UC-NRLF 


21    M57 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

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Accession  No.  /JO  O  (O    .    Clews  No. 


iE  LIGHT 
OF  REASON 


A  SOLUTION  OF 
THE  ECONOMIC  RIDDLE 


BY 

A.  B.  FRANKLIN 


\RLES  H.  KERR  &  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 

56  FIFTH  AVENUE,  CHICAGO 


35     CENTS 


The  Light  of  Reason 


SHOWING  THE  FIRST  STEP  THE  NATION 

SHOULD  TAKE  TOWARD  A  SOCIAL 

ORDER  BASED  ON  JUSTICE 


BY 

A,  B.  FRANKLIN 


CHICAGO 

CHARLES  H.  KERR  &  COMPANY 
56  FIFTH  AVENUB 


Copyright,  1899, 
By  A.  B.  FRANKLIN. 


Library  of  Progress,  No. 


PREFACE. 

A  glance  at  the  opening  chapters  of  this  book  might 
lead  to  the  impression  .that  it  is  a  mere  work  of  fiction 
without  particular  aim  or  purpose  other  than  to  enter- 
tain, but  such  is  far  from  being  the  case. 

Though  it  contains  a  story  it  is  in  reality,  as  indi- 
cated by  its  title,  a  treatise  on  the  living  questions  of 
the  day  with  which  we  are  one  and  all  concerned. 

Its  particular  claim  to  public  favor  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  elucidates  the  manner  by  which  the  obstructions 
llrat  lie  in  the  path  of  progress  may  be  removed,  so  that 
man  kind  may  receive  the  full  benefit  of  the  discoveries 
made,  and  the  knowledge  gained  by  the  human  intellect. 

That  some  of  its  readers,  especially  such  as  are  well 
along  in  years,  will  disagree  with  its  conclusions  is  but 
to  be  expected. 

Youth  is  progressive.  Its  hopes  lie  in  the  future, 
and  for  that  reason  it  readily  approves  of  innovations 
which  it  is  convinced  are  for  the  public  good. 

On  the  other  hand,  old  age  is  conservative.  It  lives 
in  the  past,  and  is  loath  to  adopt  usages  other  than 
those  to  which  it  has  become  accustomed.  But  while 
the  older  generation  is  gradually  relinquishing  control 
of  affairs,  the  younger  is  acceding  to  power,  and  will,  as 
it  inevitably  must,  mould  the  destiny  of  the  nation  in 
the  immediate  future. 

Yet,  if  the  adult  reader  will  for  the  time  being,  di- 
5 


vest  himself  of  preconceived  prejudice  so  that  he  may 
peruse  the  pages  of  the  "Light  of  Reason"  with  unbiased 
understanding,  he  will  he  surprised  to  find  how  readily 
the  mental  haze  surrounding  public  questions  will  dis- 
solve, and  how  clearly  the  significance  of  current  events 
will,  in  an  atmosphere  of  altruism,  unfold  itself  to  his 
vision. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  REASON. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Xo  premonition  of  danger  came  to  banker  Rodney 
Holcomb  as,  pale,  haggard  and  depressed  in  spirit,  he 
crossed  the  gang  plank  of  a  steamer  lying  at  a  Philadel- 
phia wharf,  for  an  extended  trip  to  foreign  lands. 

Man}'  years  before,  he  became  enamored  of  Eleanor 
Marlowe,  a  dark-haired,  prepossessing,  stately  heiress 
whom  he  subsequently  married. 

Their  combined  means  left  no  doubt  of  their  ability 
to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  and  when,  in  time,  a 
male  heir  put  in  an  appearance  their  cup  of  happiness 
was  full  to  overflowing. 

A  few  months  before  our  story  opens,  this  son,  their 
only  child,  had  reached  his  majority,  and,  owing  per- 
haps to  having  in  the  course  of  years  imbibed  the  hu- 
manitarian views  of  an  instructor  in  the  college  he  at- 
tended, he  neither  developed  the  aristocratic  tendencies 
of  his  mother,  nor  the  money  getting  propensities  of 
his  father. 

The  home  relations  of  the  family,  however,  moved 
along  serenely  until  Arthur  Holcomb  showed  a  predi- 
lection for  a  young  lady  who  did  not  find  favor  in  the 
mother's  eyes,  which  circumstance  led  to  the  first  dis- 
cord of  moment  that  ever  found  its  way  into  the  bank- 
er's luxurious  home. 

7 


About  that  time  it  happened  that  an  important 
business  complication  upon  the  Pacific  slope  required 
attention,  and  upon  this  mission,  which  it  was  expected 
would  take  several  months  to  straighten  out,  young 
Ilolcomb  was  dispatched. 

But  within  sixty  days  a  letter  from  him  imparted 
the  information  that  the  matter  had  been  satisfactorily 
arranged.  In  addition  it  announced  the  young  man's 
intention  to  start  immediately  upon  a  trip  to  the  gold 
fields  upon  the  tributaries  of  the  Yukon,  and  that  at 
least  six  months  would  elapse  before  his  return. 

This  sudden  determination  on  his  part  rather  met 
with  his  parents  approval,  his  mother  especially  con- 
cluding that  a  prolonged  separation  from  the  object  of 
his  affections  might  assist  in  bringing  about  a  change  of 
mind. 

But  one  day  word  came  from  the  far  north  of  a  ter- 
rible disaster  to  a  party  who  had  ventured  along  a  dan- 
gerous mountain  path  at  an  inopportune  time,  and 
among  the  list  of  those  who  had  met  their  fate  appeared 
the  name  of  Arthur  Holcomb. 

The  parents  of  the  young  man  were  naturally  terri- 
bly shocked  on  receipt  of  the  news,  and  while  it  nearly 
drove  the  father  to  distraction,  it  brought  on  an  attack 
of  heart  failure  in  the  mother  which  caused  her  death. 
Continued  grieving  over  his  double  bereavement  soon 
brought  Rodney  Ilolcomb  to  the  verge  of  physical  col- 
lapse, and  upon  the  advice  of  his  physician  and  friends, 
he  was  embarking  upon  his  journey  in  the  hope  that 
changing  scenes,  preoccupying  his  mincl7  would  restore 
him  to  his  former  self. 

As  the  sequel  proved,  the  immediate  object  of  the 
trip  upon  which  he  had  embarked  was  more  than  ac- 


eomplished.  hut  the  undesirable  results  otherwise  could 
certainly  not  have  been  anticipated. 

The  steamer  which  carried  him  across  the  Atlantic 
landed  him  safely  on  the  other  side,  and  his  journey 
across  the  continent,  including  stops  -more  or  less  pro- 
longed at  various  places  of  interest,  was  devoid  of  any 
iii(  ident  of  an  unusual  character. 

I  Jut  a  steamer  0,1  which  he  subsequently  took  pass- 
age for  the  Orient,  met  with  disaster  while  speeding 
along  off  the  African  coast. 

Her  machinery  broke  down  while  laboring  under  the 
stress  of  a  furious  gale  with  a  heavy  sea  running,  and 
her  machinists  being  unable  to  repair  the  damage,  for  a 
week  or  more  she  was  buffettcd  about  in  a  helpless  con- 
dition,  drifting  completely  out  of  her  course,  and  away 
from  the  usual  track  of  the  merchant  marine. 

And  one  day.  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  fog  which  had 
hung  about  the  ship  for  hours,  something  not  altogether 
unexpected  happened. 

There  came  a  sudden  shock,  a  grating  and  creaking 
noise,  and  a  crushing  of  timbers  as  the  vessel  struck 
upon  a  submerged  rocky  formation.  * 

Intense  excitement  immediately  possessed  passen- 
gers and  crew,  and  orders  were  rapidly  given  to  lower 
boats  and  provision  them,  but  before  this  could  be  done 
the  ship  careened  to  one  side,  her  prow  rose  in  the  air, 
and  sliding  off  the  ledge  on  which  she  struck  she  went 
down  stern  foremost  carrying  those  on  board  of  her  to  a 
watery  grave. 

Not  all,  for  strange  to  say,  only  Rodney  Holcomb 
clinging  for  life  to  a  piece  of  flotsam  survived  to  tell 
the  tale. 

For  many  hours  he  drifted  thus  about  until  finally 


—  10  — 

cast  ashore  upon  an  island  which,  providentially  enough 
for  him,  provided  food  sufficient  to  sustain  life;  and  on 
this  island  for  twenty  long  years  he  lived,  like  Robinson 
Crusoe,  solitary  and  alone,  scanning  many  times  a  day 
the  vast  expanse  of  water  that  encompassed  him  about, 
to  discern  the  possible  approach  of  some  vessel  upon 
which  he  might  return  to  civilization.  Now  and  then 
a.  sail  appeared  upon  the  horizon,  but  not  until  the 
lapse  of  two  decades  did  any  of  the  various  signals  he 
regularly  hoisted  attract  attention. 

A  merchantman  considerably  out  of  its  course,  sent 
a  row  boat  to  investigate  what  appeared  to  be  indica- 
tions of  human  life  upon  a  seemingly  barren  island,  and 
shortly  he  was  once  again  in  the  companionship  of  men 
of  his  own  race  who  generously  supplied  him  with  such 
raiment  as  he  urgently  stood  in  need. 

In  two  short  weeks  he  disembarked  at  the  wharf  of 
a  great  city  on  the  African  coast. 

Here  had  been  located  a  financial  institution  which 
in  former  times*  had  honored  letters  of  credit  he  had 
issued  to  tourists  and  commercial  men. 

But  was  it  Mill  in  existence?  And  if  so,  was  his 
friend,  Silas  Burton,  still  connected  with  it,  or  for  that 
matter,  still  in  the  land  of  the  living? 

These  were  the  questions  he  asked  himself  as  he 
w ended  his  way  towards  the  business  district  of  the  city. 

He  shortly  discovered  that  the  banking  concern  no 
more  existed,  but  the  friend  of  his  youth,  like  himself 
well  along  in  years,  was  still  enjoying  life,  and  they 
were  soon  in  each  other's  presence; 

They  had  grown  up  in  the  same  town,  were  chums 
at  school  and  at  college,  and  their  intimacy  had  been 
carried  into  their  business  careers  through  the  transac- 


— 11  — 

tions  of  exchange  connected  with  the  banker's  vocation 
in  which  they  had  both  embarked. 

Once  before  since  Burton  had  located  in  the  English 
colony  on  the  African  coast  he  had  been  visited  by  Hoi- 
comb,  on  which  occasion  the  pranks  of  their  boyhood 
days,  reappearing  in  the  wreaths  of  smoke  that  rose 
from  their  cigars,  had  been  successively  recalled. 

But  more  than  twenty-one  years  had  passed  since 
that  last  meeting,  and  so  changed  were  they  in  appear- 
ance that  only  on  close  scrutiny  could  either  recognize 
the  other. 

Nevertheless  the  old  familiar  lines  of  their  features 
disclosed  themselves  rapidly  on  contemplation,  their 
voices  had  but  slightly  changed  with  advancing  age,  and 
shortly  after  their  meeting  face  to  face,  long  before  they 
had  once  again  begun  to  recall  the  by-gone  days  of 
"auld  lang  syne,"  he  of  the  bronzed  visage  was  cordially 
greeted  as  one  who  had  seemingly  returned  from  tho 
dead — who  had  embarked  on  a  ship  which  never  reached 
its  destination,  and  from  which  no  tidings  ever  came. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Notwithstanding  the  many  years  of  his  involuntary 
isolation,  Rodney  Holcomb  found  himself  possessed 
of  considerable  means.  Before  embarking  on  his  fate- 
ful journey,  he  had  remitted  Burton,  with  instructions 
that  he  retain  the  same  until  called  for,  bills  of  exchange 
for  ten  thousand  dollars. 

These  funds,  intended  to  meet  whatever  expense  he 
might  incur  in  the  Orient,  still  remained  intact  in  the 
hands  of  his  friend.  When  they  had  been  transferred 
to  his  credit  on  the  books  of  the  government  bank,  he 
provided  himself  with  attire  suitable  to  the  station  in 
life  in  which  he  had  formerly  moved,  and,  at  least  so  far 
as  his  physical  comfort  was  concerned,  felt  compara- 
tively at  ease. 

"Oh,Mr.  Holcomb,read  this,"  remarked  Mrs .  Eudoni 
Burton  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival,  directing  his  at- 
tention to  an  article  in  the  afternoon  edition  of  the  local 
paper. 

They  had  been  acquainted  even  before  her  marriage 
to  his  old  chum,  and  he  attended  their  nuptials  but  a 
short  time  before  their  departure  for  their  present  place 
of  abode. 

She  had  ever  been  of  a  happy  cheery  disposition,  and 
it  may  be  imagined  that  when  Rodney  Holcomb  re- 
appeared so  unexpectedly,  she  was  the  most  surprised 


—  13  — 

woman  on  earth.  "If  ever  a  miracle  happened  this  is 
one/'  she  had  exclaimed  in  the  exuberance  of  her  joy 
ns  she  cordialty  greeted  him  on  his  arrival. 

The  newspaper  which  she  handed  him  was  dated 
June  12,  1919,  and  the  item  to  which  she  referred 
proved  to  he  an  account  of  his  extraordinary  adventure 
in  detail, 

Already  the  telegraph  had  flashed  the  story  of  his 
strange  experience,  and  the  fate  of  the  "Cleopatra,"  her 
passengers  and  crew,  to  every  portion  of  the  civilized 
world. 

A  most  welcome  surprise — one  which  filled  the  heart 
of  the  elderly  man  just  returned  from  involuntary  exile 
with  joy  and  gladness — was  the  information  imparted 
to  him  shortly  after  his  arrival  that  his  son,  whom  he 
had  considered  dead,  was  alive  and  well  in  his  American 
home,  and  more  than  that,  had  become  prominent  in 
the  affairs  of  the  republic. 

"Arthur  had  grown  up  to  be  a  sensible,  level-head- 
ed young  man,"  he  remarked  the  following  evening  in 
the  luxurious  drawing  room  of  the  Burton  home,  "and 
I  now  perceive  that  we  were  wrong  in  our  opposition  to 
hk  marriage  to  the  young  lady  of  his  choice:" 

"We  naturally  expected  him  to  wed  some  one  of  the 
many  estimable  young  ladies  of  his  acquaintance  moving 
in  aristocratic  circles,  but  one  day  he  declared  his  prefer- 
ence for  Gertrude  Wiloughby  who  had  been  teaching 
school  to  help  support  her  younger  sisters  and  her  wid- 
owed mother,  and  nothing  we  could  say  could  influence 
him  to  depart  from  that  decision." 

"A  sensible  young  man  can  usually  be  depended  up- 
on to  make  a  wise  choice  of  a  life  partner  without  pa- 


—  14  — 

rental  advice,"  said  Silas  Burton,  and  turning  to  his 
wife,  he  added  in  a  spirit  of  badinage,  "can't  he 
Dora?" 

"You  think  because  you  did,  everybody  can/'  re- 
plied Mrs.  Burton,  scoring  a  point  in  repartee. 

"'And  then,'7  said  Mr.  Burton,  continuing  the  thread 
of  his  friend's  discourse  after  the  smile  provoked  by  the 
bit  of  pleasantry  indulged  in  had  subsided,  "Arthur 
went  off  on  a  western  trip,  and  quite  unexpectedly  to 
Alaska." 

"Yes,"  coincided  the  other,  a  momentary  shade  of 
sadness  passing  over  his  features,  "he  went  to  Alaska. 
And  you  tell  me,"  he  continued,  "that  the  Arthur  Hol- 
comb  whom  the  dispatches  reported  lost  in  the  aval- 
anche was  not  our  Arthur  Lut  some  other  person  of  the 
same  name,  and  that  after  it  was  certain  the  ship  on 
which  I  embarked  had  met  with  disaster,  my  son  came 
over  here,  nearly  to  the  antipodes,  in  order  to  be  where 
he  might  render  me  possible  assistance!" 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "he  declared  that  some- 
thing told  him  you  had  not  been  drowned,  and  when 
Silas  offered  to  turn  over  to  him  the  funds  you  had  re- 
mitted for  your  requirements,  he  refused  to  accept  them 
saying  that  you  would  yet  call  for  them  in  person.  I 
consider  the  intuitive  belief  in  your  safety  which  he  en- 
tertained a  most  remarkable  circumstance." 

"And  more  than  that,"  added  Mr.  Burton,  "he  said 
he  would  come  again,  and  that  he  believed  we  would 
meet  you  here  uninjured  and  restored  to  perfect  health." 

Just  then  Edna  Burton,  lovely  as  a  picture  attired 
in  pink  and  white,  appeared  in  the  open  doorway,  and 
announced  the  arrival  of  a  cablegram  for  Mr.  Holcomb. 


—  15  — 

It  was  a  message  from  his  son,  and  after  bestowing  a 
glance  upon  it,  he  read  aloud  its  contents  which  ran  as 
follows : 

"Gertrude  and  I  and  the  children  will  meet  you  at 
Burton's.'  Stay  until  we  arrive."  ARTHUR. 


CHAPTER  III. 

"There!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton  after  those  present 
had  surveyed  each  other's  countenance  for  a  moment 
in  silent  surprise.  "What  he  as  well  as  predicted  is 
coming  true  to  the  letter.  Jt  is  simply  wonderful."' 

"It  does  seem  extraordinary,"  said  the  recipient  of 
the  welcome  message,  "but  after  all,  what  he  said  and 
decided  upon  must  have  been  based  entirely  upon  what 
he  hoped  would  come  about.  It  was  impossible  for  him 
to  know." 

"Of  course,"  he  continued,  "he  related  to  you  his 
experiences  in  the  gold  fields  of  Alaska?" 

"He  did,  and  his  account  of  them  was  quite  enter- 
taining," replied  Mrs.  Burton. 

"He  mentioned,  however,  that  he  did  not  journey 
to  the  far  north  for  the  purpose  of  searching  for  gold, 
but  through  a  desire  to  observe  and  study  human  na- 
ture amidst  the  successes,  failures  and  excitements  of 
a  mining  region.  He  seemed  thoroughly  possessed  of 
the  advanced  ideas  which  have  since  been  accepted  bv 
governments  the  world  over,  and  he  ridiculed  the  idea 
of  society  retaining  in  use  as  money  a  commodity  to 
obtain  which,  men  traversed  dreary  wastes  in  the  face 
of  cold,  hunger,  privation  and  death,  when  its  use  for 
such  a  purpose  could  just  as  well  as  not  be  dispensed 
with . 

He  stated  then  that  he  had  started  to  write  for  pub- 
16 


li  cat  ion  upon  the  subject,  and  it  is  generally  conceded 
that  his  treatise  on  the  science  of  government  which 
subsequently  appeared,  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  enlightenment  of  the  masses  upon  the  currency 
and  other  questions." 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  that,"  said  the  father  of  the 
young  man  thus  praiseworthily  alluded  to,  "and  it  is 
what  might  have  been  expected  of  him,  judging  from 
the  many  works  on  government  he  accumulated,  whose 
contents  he  eagerly  devoured." 

"In  many  things  Arthur  was  altogether  different 
from  the  sons  of  the  rich  in  general.  He  had  a  keen 
sense  of  natural  right  and  justice,  sympathized  with  the 
weaker  elements  of  society,  and  once  remarked  that  he 
could  understand  how  men  would  always  do  society  use- 
ful service  in  the  production  and  the  distribution  of 
commodities,  in  the  professions,  the  arts,  the  sciences 
and  in  other  ways,  but  while  it  might  be  a  necessary 
evil  under  the  existing  state  of  affairs  for  individuals  to 
gain  a  livelihood  through  the  taking  of  interest  and  the 
discounting  of  commercial  paper,  he  did  not  consider 
such  vocations  as  that  of  the  private  banker  at  all  nec- 
i's<ary  under  a  proper  rational  social  and  industrial  sys- 
tem. He  was  particularly  careful  in  the  selection  of  his 
associates,  never  consorting  with  young  men  who  cared 
for  naught  else  but  to  have  a  good  time,  and,  though  he 
repeatedly  declared  he  never  would  connect  himself 
with  any  banking  institution,  I  thought  the  world  of 
the  boy  because  of  his  good  qualities  and  dignified  man- 
liness, and  you  can  imagine  how  T  felt  when  I  saw  the 
name  of  Arthur  ITolcomb  among  those  reported  over- 
whelmed on  the  glacier." 

"He  related  to  us  how  be  became  interested  in  pub- 


—  18  — 

lie  questions,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  "and  was  considerably 
surprised  when  I  exhibited  to  him  one  of  his  "earlier  es- 
says in  print,  the  one  you  once  enclosed  in  a  letter  if 
you  remember.  He  remarked  when  he  saw  it  in  the 
scrap  book  in  which  I  had  it  preserved  that  it  was  the 
first  paper  he  presented  to  the  'Good  Government  Club' 
after  becoming  a  member,  and  that  it  merely  hinted  at 
changes  which  it  was  becoming  evident  would  before 
long  be  made  in  home  government." 

"I  recollect  sending  you  the  clipping,"  said  the  man 
addressed,  "but  its  contents  has  entirely  slipped  my 
memory/' 

"Would  you  like  to  hear  it  read,  Mr.  Holcomb?" 
asked  Edna  who  had  remained  in  the  room  after  the  de- 
parture of  the  uniformed  employe  of  the  telegraph  ser- 
vice who  delivered  the  cablegram,  "it  is  not  very 
lengthy." 

"I  think  I  would  enjoy  having  it  recalled  at  this  par- 
ticular time,"  the  elderly  man  addressed  replied. 

Edna,  though  not  quite  seventeen,  had  very  nearly 
completed  her  education,  and  besides  the  usual  run  of 
studies  she  had  taken  a  course  in  elocution.  The  book- 
case was  near  at  hand  and  in  a  few  moments  she  began 
the  reading  of  the  essay  in  a  clear,  musical,  well  modu- 
lated voice. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

It  ran  as  follows: 

We  take  a  natural  pride  in  our  common  country,  and 
truthfully  claim  to  have,  on  the  whole,  the  grandest, 
democracy  that  has  as  yet  been  reared  on  earth. 

But  even  its  founders  admitted  that  it  was  far  from 
perfect  at  its  inception,  and  since  their  day  it  has  not 
been  materially  improved  upon. 

Such  being  the  case,  why  not  set  about  to  ascertain  of 
what  those  imperfections  consist,  and  in  what  direction 
improvement  in  government  lies? 

We  frame  our  own  social  regulations,  so  that  we  can 
make  our  institutions  conform  to  whatever  will  best 
conduce  to  the  prosperity,  happiness  and  contentment 
of  the  people,  and  to  that  end  can  without  let  or  hind- 
rance alter  or  abolish  laws  or  constitutions  that  stand  in 
the  way  at  will. 

When  we  contemplate  society  and  find  a  limited  few 
in  possession  of  the  bulk  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation;  find 
Ihcm  usurping  governmental  functions  in  transporta- 
tion and  exchange,  controlling  the  avenues  of  intelli- 
gence and  monopolizing  the  necessaries  of  life,  while 
the  many  are  madly  competing  with  one  another  for  an 
existence,  and  an  army  of  unemployed  clamor,  not  for 
charity,  but  for  an  opportunity  to  gain  a  livelihood  by 

honest  labor,  we  naturally    conclude    that    something 

19 


—  20  — 

must  be  radically  wrong  in  the  regulations  by  which  so- 
ciety is  governed  to  bring  about  such  results. 

But  what  is  to  be  done? 

Happily  an  answer  is  at  hand.  Every  nation  of 
earth  labors  under  difficulties  more  or  less  similar  to  our 
own,  and  if  we  examine  into  the  remedy  to  which  the 
people  of  older  settled  countries  are  turning,  we  soon 
become  convinced  that  the  measures  for  improvement 
in  government  which  they  propose  to  introduce  will 
bring  full  and  adequate  relief.  If  we  expect  to  progress, 
we  must  not  shut  our  eyes  to  what  is  going  on  in  the 
great  world  of  which  this  nation  is  but  a  part. 

Would  it  be  wise  for  the  Chinese  say,  to  ignore  the 
advances  we  and  other  nations  have  made,  in  a  consider- 
ation of  the  adoption  by  them  of  an  improved  form  of 
government? 

And  does  a  monopoly  of  wisdom  rest  with  us  who 
have  made  use  of  the  printing  press,  the  chronometer, 
the  cathode  ray  and  a  thousand  other  things  of  foreign 
origin?  ' 

If  so,  how  is  it  that  We  alone  of  the  great  nations  of 
earth  are  confronted  by  either  a  railroad  or  a  telegraph 
problem?  And  do  we  take  notice  that  in  all  those  coun- 
tries where  the  operation  of  the  railroads  and  the  tele- 
graph runs  along  as  smoothly,  uninterruptedly  and  as 
satisfactorily  as  does  our  mail  service,  both  railroads 
and  telegraph  are  owned,  controlled  and  operated  by 
the  nation — by  the  people  collectively? 

True,  we  are  agitating  for  government  railroads  and 
telegraph,  but  what  are  the  millions  in  France  and  Ger- 
many and  Belgium  and  other  countries  where  such  in- 
stitutions are  already  collectively  owned  agitating  for? 
Surely  not  to  turn  such  institutions  over  to  individuals. 


—  21  — 

Of  the  various  political  parties  in  those1  countries  not 
a  single  one  makes  claim  that  government  ownership 
is  a  failure  and  demands  its  abolition.  On  the  contrary 
no  fault  is  found  with  collective  ownership  in  any  coun- 
try. 

What  they  are  agitating  for,  is,  that  the  remainder 
of  the  industries,  including  agriculture,  now  conducted 
by  private  enterprise,  be  similarly  placed  under  collec- 
tive management  and  control. 

More  and  more  of  the  citizens  of  those  nations  are 
becoming  convinced  that  the  welfare  of  the  people  as  a 
whole,  which  is  the  primary  object  of  government,  can 
be  best  promoted  by  each  respective  nation  taking  en- 
tire charge  of  its  industrial  affairs,  and  that  only  in  this 
manner  can  the  rights  of  the  individuals  of  a  nation  be 
properly  adjusted,  and  a  more  equal  distribution  of  the 
comforts  of  life  be  secured. 

It  is  the  practical  application  of  this  theory,  which 
accords  with  the  trend  of  natural  and  unobstructed  evo- 
lution, that  is  being  urged  for  adoption  by  the  pro- 
gressive element  in  every  advanced  nation  of  earth,  and 
within  the  range  of  its  potentiality  will  be  found  a  so- 
lution of  the  various  problems  with  which  the  people 
of  our  republic  are  confronted . 

As  a  nation,  we  are  not  ready  for  the  adoption  of 
so  radical  a  change  of  industrial  conditions  in  its  en- 
iirety,  but  the  time  is  ripe  when  the  first  steps  leading 
in  that  direction  should  be  taken. 


CHAPTER  V. 

"Now  that  my  memory  has  been  refreshed,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  article  comes  back  to  me  very  clearly," 
said  Mr.  ITolcomb,  when  Edna  had  finished  reading  the 
clipping,  "and  from  what  I  observe,"  he  continued, 
"things  seem  to  have  shaped  themselves  into  a  system 
very  similar  to  the  social  order  whose  adoption  he  was 
assisting  to  bring  about." 

"Precisely,"  remarked  his  life  long  friend,  "'and," 
he  continued,  "notwithstanding  the  fact  that  when  that 
article  was  penned  the  people  of  the  United  States  were 
in  some  respects  more  conservative  than  those  of  other 
countries,  they  were,  after  all,  the  first  to  discover  the 
road  leading  to  permanent  prosperity." 

And  then  day  by  day  while  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
Arthur  and  his  family,  Rodney  Holcomb  took  notice  of 
the  stupendous  changes  that  had  been  made  in  business 
methods  since  on  a  May-day  morning  in  the  closing 
year  of  the  previous  century,  twenty  years  before,  from 
the  hurricane  deck  of  an  ocean  liner,  he  had  watched 
the  spires  of  the  city  of  his  abode  fade  gradually  away 
until  lost  to  view  in  the  distance.  And  the  more  he  ob- 
served those  changes,  the  more  did  they  gain  favor  in 
his  estimation. 

Industry  was  being  carried  on  by  the  people  collec- 
tively. Xo  capitalists  gathered  to  themselves  the  sur- 
plus wealth  which  the  toilers  produced.  This  now 

22 


—  23  — 

found  its  way  into  the  national  treasury,  and  with  the 
social  capital  thus  created  the  people  built  factories 
and  workshops  and  opened  up  to  themselves  the  hither- 
to closed  avenues  of  employment. 

The  citizens  through  their  postal  savings  system  did 
their  own  banking.  No  commercial  banks  were  neces- 
sary, because  both  production  and  distribution  were 
being  carried  on  by  society  as  a  whole.  Individuals  pur- 
chased their  necessaries  in  great  trade  bazaars  owned 
controlled  and  supervised  directly  by  government.  Land 
was  being  cultivated  collectively  with  the  latest  im- 
proved appliances  and  inventions.  Such  a  thing  as  tax- 
ation was  unknown;  there  was  no  necessity  for  it  what- 
ever. Speculation  in  commodities,  commission  broker- 
age and  insurance  of  every  description  was  abolished. 
Neither  was  there  a  private  charity  organization  in  ex- 
istence. Society  as  a  whole  provided  the  best  of  medi- 
cal attendance  to  its  membership  when  required,  and  it 
discharged  its  proper  duty  of  caring  for  the  blind,  the 
crippled  and  for  those  in  any  way  incapable  of  render- 
ing useful  public  service. 

And  the  construction  of  public  works,  which  in- 
cluded the  erection  of  commodious  homes  for  the  peo- 
ple, went  on  without  cessation. 

All  these  things  which  tended  to  enhance  the  happi- 
ness of  the  people  drew  forth  from  him  expressions  of 
approval  and  admiration.  "I  doubt,"  said  he  one  day 
enthusiastically,  "if  you  people  who  have  seen  these 
changes  made  slowly  and  gradually  realize  their  grand- 
cur  as  I  do  who  have  had  them  suddenly  unfolded  to 
my  vision.  It  is  amazing!  bewildering!  wonderful!" 

One  evening  on  leaving  the  Burton  home  after  the 
usual  social  chat,  he  took  with  him  for  perusal  the  pub- 


—  24  — 

lication  which  Arthur  had  composed,  which,  a.s  he  had 
heen  told,  had  contributed  greatly  toward  bringing 
about  the  new  social  order. 

It  was  entitled  "Society,"  and,  substantially  repro- 
duced, ran  as  follows: 


SOCIETY 


Not  that  society  in  frills  and  lace  and 
gold,  but  that  composite  whole  embracing 
all  mankind* 


PREFACE. 

The  reader  has  perhaps  seen  and  remembers  the  old 
wooden  block  puzzle,  the  pieces  of  which  when  fitted 
together  formed  a  symmetrical  bunch  roughly  round. 

It  was  a  perplexing  thing  which  could  not  be  put  to- 
gether without  making  use  of  each  and  every  block,  and 
assigning  it  to  its  proper  position  in  the  make-up  of  the 
whole. 

When  the  pieces  were  properly  arranged  and  the 
puzzle  was  solved,  like  when  the  details  of  an  invention 
or  discovery  are  made  known,  it  all  became  very  simple. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  similarity  between  the  old  wood- 
en puzzle  and  the  social  organization. 

Society  is  a  compact  body  whose  tranquility  depends 
upon  the  harmonious  relation  towards  each  other  of  the 
elements  of  which  it  is  composed.  Every  problem  with 
which  it  is  confronted  admits  of  ready  solution.  But 
all  public  questions  are  inter-related,  and  each  must 
have  its  proper  place  in  a  correct  alignment. 

When  this  is  done,  like  when  one  knows  how  to  put 
the  wooden  puzzle  together,  it  will  all  seem  very  simple. 

But  until  each  and  all  of  the  questions  which  affect 
our  material,  existence  are  properly  adjusted,  the  times, 
like  the  blocks  of  the  wooden  puzzle  when  not  correctly 
put  together,  must  continue,  as  they  are  now,  "out  of 
joint/' 

26 


INTRODUCTION. 

As  part  of  the  inscrutable  design  of  the  Creator  of 
the  Universe,  man  alone  of  the  various  forms  of  animal 
life  on  earth  has  been  endowed  with  reason,  understand- 
ing and  superior  qualities  of  mind  otherwise,  which  ena- 
ble him  to  provide  for  his  immediate  subsistence  and 
comfort,  to  transmit  and  perpetuate  his  discoveries  in 
the  intellectual  field,  and  to  appreciate  the  mental  pow- 
ers and  advantages  with  which  he  has  been  favored. 

Man  is  pre-eminently  a  thinking  creature,  and  to 
the  extent  that  he  has  utilized  the  mental  faculties  with 
which  he  has  been  endowed  has  civilization  advanced. 

There  is  a  marked  difference,  however,  in  the  ad- 
vance of  mechanical  and  scientific  knowledge  promoted 
by  the  individual,  and  of  social  progress  which  necessi- 
tates the  co-operation  of  the  individual  members  of 
which  society  is  composed. 

Progressive  ideas  in  the  field  of  scientific  discovery 
and  invention  are  given  to  the  world  after  successful 
experimentation  or  demonstration,  and  are  utilized  at 
once. 

Not  so  with  a  theory  indicating  how  the  people 
through  their  government  might  proceed  to  better  their 
condition. 

Such  a  theory  admits  of  experimentation  only  when 
practically  applied.  Nevertheless,  one  by  one,  indivi- 
duals may  perceive  that  in  some  certain  theory  sug- 

27 


—  28  — 

gestcd,  the  right  road  to  a  betterment  of  social  condi- 
tions has  been  pointed  out,  and  when  the  circle  of  those 
co-operating  for  its  adoption  becomes  sufficiently  ex- 
tended, we  have  social  progress. 

Consequently,  the  advancement  of  society  as  a  whole 
depends  entirely  upon  the  intelligent  discernment  of 
its  members  as  regards  what  is  best  for  its  welfare. 


SOCIETY.— I. 
LAND. 

Some  six  thousand  or  more  years  ago,  man  and 
woman  awoke  to  the  consciousness  that  they  were  be- 
ings endowed  with  superior 'intelligence,  and  were,  by 
the  Creator  of  all,  given  dominion  over  the  land  and 
the  waters  of  the  earth. 

The  land  was  fair  to  look  upon  even  as  a  garden. 
Luscious  fruit  and  other  edibles  sprung  in  profusion 
from  the  soil,  cattle  and  sheep  in  an  undomesticated 
state  roamed  the  hillsides,  and  with  fish  and  fowl  con- 
veniently at  hand,  the  earlier  progenitors  of  the  race 
had  but  to  reach  out  into  nature  for  their  subsistence. 

And,  in  the  course  of  time,  long  before  the  advent 
of  any  who  cultivated  the  soil  in  even  the  most  crude 
and  primitive  way,  came  those  who  upon  the  unclaimed 
pastures  stretching  away ,  in  every  direction,  tended 
flocks  and  herds. 

For  several  centuries  in  the  infancy  of  civilization 
while  land  was  plenty  and  population  sparse,  it  was  not 
difficult  for  individuals  to  maintain  fairly  amicable  re- 
lations towards  each  other  as  regards  the  possession  of 
land.  Nevertheless  the  land  question  made  its  appear- 
ance at  a  comparatively  early  period. 

Some  portions  of  the  land,  just  as  they  are  at  the 
present  time,  were  better  than  others,  and  for  that  iva- 

scn  were  eagerly  taken  possession  of  by  the 'owners  of 

29 


—  30  — 

the  ever  increasing  flocks  and  herds;  and  later  on,  when 
men  began  to  cultivate  the  soil,  the  strife  for  land  be- 
came intensified. 

Yet  the  only  title  to  land  during  those  centuries 
was  the  right  of  use  and  control  conceded  to  individuals 
because  of  priority  in  taking  possession,  and  of  occu- 
pancy. 

But  as  time  passed,  the  more  powerful,  the  more 
cunning,  and  the  more  grasping  of  the  citizenship 
claimed  and  took  possession  of  great  bodies  of  land,  and 
the  ignorant,  the  weak,  and  the  less  calculating  were 
taken  advantage  of,  just  as  they  are  at  the  present  time, 
and  soon  came  to  consider  those  who  had  amassed 
wealth  in  cattle  and  sheep  and  landed  estates  as  the  per- 
sons to  whom  to  look  for  a  chance  to  labor  in  order  to 
gain  a  subsistence,  and  it  might  be  added  that  this  was 
perfectly  natural  and  proper,  then,  as  it  is  even  now,  in 
a  competitive  state  of  society. 

Land  being  the  natural  storehouse  from  which  all 
that  is  essential  to  the  support  of  man  is  derived,  it  fol- 
lowed, that  men  who  were  not  possessed  of  land,  nor 
were  indirectly  deriving  support  from  it  through  labor 
performed  for  land-owners  or  in  some  other  legitimate 
way,  were  of  necessity  compelled  to  wander  off  to  new 
localities  in  search  of  opportunities  to  earn  a  compe- 
tence wrhich  in  the  older  settled  communities  were  pre- 
sented to  but  a  limited  number,  and  in  this  manner 
population,  perhaps  at  first  limited  to  portions  of  Asia, 
spread  into  Africa,  into  Europe  and  completed  its  cir- 
cuit of  the  globe  when,  after  its  discovery  by  Columbus, 
it  took  possession  of  the  American  continent. 

Early  in  the  world's  history  the  right  to  the  posses- 
sion and  use  of  land  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  trans- 


—  31  — 

ferablc  property,  and  passing  by  inheritance,  and  from 
hand  to  hand  for  a  consideration,  we  can  readily 
conceive  how,  in  time,  the  original  relation  of  man  to 
land  became  obscured,  and  the  idea  that  the  absolute 
title  to  land  would  for  all  time,  be  transferred  from  in- 
dividual to  individual  became  fixed  in  the  minds  of 
men.  However,  as  long  as  free  land  could  still  be  ob- 
tained, no  harm  came  to  society  from  regulations  per- 
mitting private  land  ownership  and  providing  a 
for  its  transfer. 

In  fact,  laws  providing  for  the  ownership  a 
fer  of  land  were  unquestionably  right,  proper, 
equitable  throughout  the  period  in  which  the  earth 
being  taken  possession  of. 

Have  the  lands  of  the  earth  been  appropriated,  id 
the  query  to  which  these  reflections  give  rise! 

Vast  tracts  of  land  have  never  as  yet  been  cultivated, 
but  the  conceded  right  of  the  individual  to  the  unlim- 
ited ownership  of  land  carries  with  it  the  absolute  rig! it 
of  its  disposition,  and  since  the  introduction  of 
parchment,  whereby  documentary  evidence  relating  to 
land  ownership  might  be  preserved,  it  has  become  pos- 
sible and  an  every-day  occurrence  to  obtain  and  retain 
title  to  land  without  either  actual  use  or  occupation. 
And  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  title  deeds  to  the  earth 
are  on  record,  so  that  'men  can  not  anywhere  take  up 
free  land  to  acquire  that  competence  which,  though 
still  earned  by  a  limited  number  who  either  directly  or 
indirectly  derive  their  support  from  land,  is  denied  to 
an  ever  increasing  percentage  of  the  population. 


SOCIETY.— II. 
LAND  (Continued). 

When  we  reflect  upon  the  fact  that  we  are  compelled 
to  resort  to  land  for  food,  raiment,  shelter  and  every 
material  thing  which  we  create  for  either  ornament  or 
use,  it  becomes  clearly  evident  that  land,  by  the  will  of 
its  Creator,  was  intended  for  the  support  of  the  entire 
human  race. 

Not  alone  for  the  living  of  any  one  era  in  time,  but 
for  all  succeeding  generations  as  well.  When  through 
social  regulations  permitting  the .  transfer  of  the  title 
to  land  for  a  consideration,  or  the  acquirement  of  the 
eame  by  inheritance,  the  soil  of  a  nation  has  passed  into 
the  possession  of  a  limited  number  of  individuals,  with 
population  ever  on  the  increase,  it  manifestly  becomes 
diverted  from  its  intended  purpose — the  support  of  all 
— and  no  matter  how  plentiful  may  be  the  harvests 
which  it  yields,  the  disinherited  are  not  permitted  1«> 
share  in  its  bounties.* 


*"Natural  justice  can  recognize  no  right  in  one  man  to 
the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  land  that  is  not  equally 
the  right  of  all  his  fellows,"  says  Henry  George  in  "Pro- 
gress and  Poverty,"  and  by  way  of  annotation  he  adds: 
"This  natural  and  inalienable  right  to  the  equal  use  and 
enjoyment  of  land  is  so  apparent  that  it  has  been  recognized 
by  men  wherever  force  or  habit  has  not  blunted  first  per- 
ceptions." To  give  but  one  instance.  The  white  settlers  of 
New  Zealand  found  themselves  unable  to  get  from  the  Maoris 
what  the  latter  considered  a  complete  title  to  land,  because. 

32 


—  33  — 

We  now  have  laws  sustaining  the  absolute  owner- 
ship of  land  by  individuals. 

liut  laws  are  the  creation  of  society,  and  whenever 
the  condition  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  citizen - 
sdiip  indicates  that  a  change  in  social  regulations  so  as 
to  abolish  private  ownership  in  land  would  be  for  the 
public  good,  codes  and  constitutions  may  and  ought  to 
be  changed  accordingly.  Existing  titles  to  land  must 
be  considered,  what  they  really  are;  temporary  expe- 
dients to  adjust  the  rights  of  settlers  in  a  new  country 
until  such  a  time  as  land  can  no  more  be  taken  up  free. 
For  with  the  coming  of  the  first  individual  who  can  no 
more  obtain  free  land — when  payment  is  demanded  be- 
fore he  can  derive  his  support  from  the  soil — the  situa- 
tion changes,  the  temporary  expedient  by  which  the 
lands  have  become  settled  up  is  at  an  end,  and  it  be- 
comes the  duty  of  the  collectivity,  in  whom  the  title  to 
the  land  parcelled  out  is  naturally  vested,  to  make  such 
collective  use  of  land  that  each  and  all  may  derive  that 
support  from  the  soil  to  which  they  are  naturally  and 
of  right  entitled.  The  time  has  come  when  free  land 
can  no  more  be  obtained;  when  it  is  clearly  against  pub- 
lic policy  to  continue  disposing  of  the  remaining  lands 
of  the  nation  as  in  the  past,  and  when  collective  use  of 
the  soil  must  be  made  for  the  common  good.  For  these 
reasons,  keeping  in  view  the  interests  of  the  disinher- 
ited members  of  our  common  society,  and  our  dutv  so 


although  a  whole  tribe  might  have  consented  to  a  sale  they 
would  still  claim  with  every  new  child  born  among  them 
an  additional  payment  on  the  ground  that  they  had  only 
parted  with  their  own  rights,  and  could  not  sell  those  of 
the  unborn.  The  government  was  obliged  to  step  in  and 
settle  the  matter  by  buying  land  for  a  tribal  annuity,  in 
which  every  child  that  is  born  acquires  a  share. 


—  34  — 

to  arrange  that  the  mill  ions  yet  unborn  will  not  be  de- 
prived of  their  rightful  share  in  the. world  into  which 
they  will  be  ushered,  it  behooves  us  to  refrain  from 
granting  away  even  a  single  foot  of  the  lands  still  col- 
lectively owned  by  the  people,  for  any  purpose  or  for 
any  consideration  whatsoever. 


SOCIETY.— III. 
LAND  (Concluded.) 

It  seems  rather  idle  to  speculate  upon  what  might 
have  hoe  11  done  as  regards  laud  by  the  founders  of  our 
government,  yd  \ve  may  with  profit  indulge  in  a  few  re- 
flections upon  that  subject. 

Following  European  customs  the  colonists  had  be- 
fore the  War  of  the  Revolution,  individually  acquired 
title  to  the  lands  they  occupied,  so  that  the  conditions 
then  existing  as  regards  land  were  virtually  recognized 
nnd  incorporated  into  the  new  social  compact  with  no 
attempt  at  change.  Still  there  remained  the  vast  terri- 
tory stretching  away  toward  the  setting  sun — the  splen- 
did domain  the  last  remnants  of  which  we  are  parcelling 
out  this  very  day.* 

Had  government  retained  the  title  to  this  land, 
leased  it  out  in  small  tracts  at  a  low  rental,  and  later 
on,  when  steam  succeeded  horse  power  in  locomotion, 
built  short  stretches  of  railroad  between  the  most  prom- 
ising points,  extending  such  from  time  to  time  until  the 
land  was  gridironed  with  these  modern  vehicles  of 


*While  we  are  still  disposing  of  the  remnant  of  our  pub- 
lic lands,  New  Zealand  is  repurchasing  its  landed  estates, 
and  leasing  them  to  ac'tual  cultivators  for  fixed  terms.  To 
this  end  laws  have  been  enacted  that  government  have  the 
option  to  acquire  land  at  the  valuation  at  which  i't  has  been 
returned  for  taxation. 

35 


-  36  — 

transportation,  the  major  portion  of  the  problems  that 
now  confront  the  nation  would  not  have  arisen. 

But  it  was  not  done,  and  this  misstep  so  momentous 
in  its  consequences  will  .yet  have  to  be  retraced — these 
lands  will  have  to  be  repurchased  by  the  collectivity 
from  the  individuals  into  whoso  possession  they  have 
legitimately  come  under  the  policies  which  wo  pursued. 

It  is  only  when  population  has  increased  to  such  an. 
extent  that  the  amble  hinds  of  a  new  country  are  all 
taken  up,  that  the  truth  dawns  upon  the  people  that  no 
provision  for  support  of  the  generations  yet  unborn  has 
been  made,  and  that  these,  when  ushered  bare-handed 
into  the  world  will  find  the  land  of  the  earth  and  its 
resources  in  the  possession  of  those  with  whom  they 
will  be  compelled  to  make  terms  before  they  will  be  per- 
mitted  to  derive  a  subsistence  from  the  soil. 

All  men  should  have  recourse  upon  the  land  for  sup- 
port, but  this  does  not  mean  that  all  men  should  derive 
their  support  in  whole  or  in  part  from  agriculture, 
though  in  fact  all  men  do  either  directly  or  indirectly 
derive  their  support  from  the  earth. 

Were  farms  reduced  in  size  to  keep  pace  with  in- 
crease in  population  they  would,  in  time,  become  so 
email  that  the  use  of  even  ordinary  machinery  in  their 
cultivation  would  not  be  profitable. 

Population,  especially  in  the  older  settled  districts, 
is  becoming  dense,  and  patches  of  land  in  millions  of 
small  holdings  are  being  cultivated  the  world  over. 
And  how  much  unremitting  toil,  and  how  little  of  cheer 
and  comfort  comes  into  the  lives  of  these  agrarians  who 
perhaps  manage  to  eke  out  a  hand  to  mouth  existence! 
The  tendency  in  agriculture,  like  in  manufactures,  is 
away  from  small  production,  and  in  the  direction  of 


-  3?  - 

production  on  ;m  extensive  scale.  With  the  so-called 
bonanza  farms  of  the  west,  approximating  an  entire 
county  in  sixe.  the  raiser  of  wheat  on  a  small  scale  can 
not  successfully  compete,  and  the  large  tracts  of  land 
which  capitalists  are  acquiring  for  cultivation  are  be- 
coming more  numerous  year  by  year. 

Only  by  production  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  em- 
ployment of  the  latest  discoveries  that  tend  to  lessen 
cost  of  production  can  agriculture  even  now  be  made 
remunerative  where  farmers  compete  with  each  other 
in  the  home  market,  and  all  in  turn  compete  with  the 
producers  of  food  products  in  foreign  lands. 

Do  not  the  agriculturalists  of  the  country  then  per- 
ceive that  it  is  the  grinding  down  process  of  competi- 
tive production  which  is  the  cause  of  the  depression  in 
agriculture,  and  that  an  inconceivable  amount  of  drud- 
gery, worry  and  hardship  could  be  averted  by  consolid- 
ating the  landed  interests  of  the  country  so  that  the  en- 
tire  soil  of  the  nation  would  be  operated,  managed 
and  controlled  as  a  single  industrial  enterprise  for  the 
public  good? 

Such  an  arrangement  would  not  alone  make  foreign 
competition  in  agricultural  products  a  thing  of  the  past 
but  it  would  also  solve  the  problem  of  how  best  to  dis- 
pose of  the  vast  stretches  of  territory  known  as  the  arid 
lands  of  the  west.  These  would  be  made  fertile  through 
great  irrigating  canals  which  government  would  con- 
struct, and  the  resources  of  the  land  put  to  collective 
use. 

The  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  title  to  all  the 
la  ml  within  our  borders  will  be  vested  in  the  collec- 
tivity. The  arduous  tasks  of  agriculture  will  then  be  per- 
formed by  steam  and  electric  machinery  whose  arms  of 


-  38  - 

steel  will  sweep  over  vast  areas  unimpeded  by  a  maze  of 
fences  such  as  are  now  set  up  as  lines  of  demarkation 
between  neighbors  whose  interest  in  the  common  soil 
should  be  identical. 

There  can  be  no  grander  conception  than  the  great 
national  farm  of  a  co-operative  commonwealth,  extend- 
ing from  ocean  to  ocean,  studded  with  a  thousand  mag- 
nificent cities  beside  which  the  urban  conglomerations 
of  the  present  time  would  appear  but  as  shabby  cari- 
catures. 

Only  in  this  manner  can  the  foundation  of  a  system 
by  which  all  may  be  assured  the  opportunities  to  ac- 
quire the  comforts  of  existence,  be  laid.  Upon  this 
foundation  will  rest  all  the  departments  of  human  ac- 
tivity, carried  on  by  the  people  collectively,  furnishing 
avenues  of  employment  to  all,  and  in  this  manner  will 
all  men  have  recourse  upon  the  land  for  support. 


SOCIETY.— IV. 
WEALTH. 

We  may  reasonably  conjecture  that,  beginning  at 
a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  mankind,  indivi- 
duals realized  the  necessity  of  laying  up  a  store  for  fu- 
ture subsistence  and  comfort  out  of  what  nature  lavish- 
ly produced.  They  proceeded  to  accumulate  a  food 
and  a  fuel  supply;  the  skins  of  animals  which  they  en- 
trapped and  slew  served  them  as  raiment,  and  rude  hab- 
itations constructed  of  logs  and  the  branches  of  trees 
gave  tli em  shelter. 

These  fruits  of  their  labor  together  with  such  other 
necessaries  as  their  primitive  mode  of  living  suggested 
and  their  creative  capacities  enabled  them  to  produce, 
were  wealth,  just  as  are  solely  and  alone  the  comforts 
of  life  at  the  present  time. 

Individuals  in  this  manner  provided  for  their  own 
necessities  until  men  began  to  exchange  commodities 
which  they  produced  for  those  which  others  produced, 
each  seeking  not  to  give  more  labor  value  in  exchange 
than  what  he  received,  and  thus  the  competitive  meth- 
ods of  acquiring  a  living  to  which  we  still  adhere, 
sprang  into  existence.  Selfishness  immediately  be- 
came the  foundation  upon  which  the  industrial  struc- 
ture was  erected,  and  the  accumulation  of  the  means 
of  subsistence  and  as  many  of  the  comforts  of  life  as 

possible  a  praiseworthy  and  laudable  endeavor, 

39 


—  40  — 

But  in  the  nature  of  things  no  one  knew  when  ho 
had  a  sufficiency — when  he  had  a  competence,  and  so  1>\ 
universal  custom  which  by  continued  usage  came  to  In- 
considered  a  lawful  right,  even  like  unto  this  very  day, 
individuals  proceeded  to  accumulate  wealth  without 
limit. 

Such  a  social  order  worked  comparatively  little 
hardship  before  the  days  of  steam  and  electricity  when 
men  were  unable  to  produce  more  than  could  be  con- 
sumed; but  in  these  days  of  labor  saving  machinery 
when  we  can  produce  more  than  we  can  possibly  con- 
sume: when  the  title  deeds  to  the  earth  are  on  record 
and  men  moving  from  locality  to  locality  in  seeking  to 
gain  a  livelihood  stand  at  bay,  it  becomes  an  easy  mat- 
ter for  the  few  who  have  come  into  possession  of  the 
most  profitable  sources  of  production  to  appropriate  to 
themselves  the  wealth  which  under  more  equitable  so- 
cial conditions  would  provide  necessaries  of  life  for  the 
many,  and  enable  them  to  share  in  the  conveniences 
and  comforts  which  the  age  has  produced. 

But  men  are  gradually  coming  to  see  that  they  have 
not  equal  opportunities  in  the  gaining  of  a  competence, 
and  that  social  regulations  under  which  it  is  possible 
for  an  individual  to  acquire  wealth  which  represents 
the  food,  shelter  and  raiment  taken  from  millions  of  his 
fellow  beings  ought  not  to  be  continued. 

The  fortune  of  John  D.  Rockefeller  accumulated  in 
less  than  three  decades  is  estimated  at  one  hundred  and 
thirty  million  dollars.  The  better  to  realize  the  immen- 
sity of  such  a  sum  let  us  compare  it  with  the  earning 
power  of  individuals  engaged  in  manual  labor. 

More  than  four  thousand  years  have  elapsed  since 
.Joseph  revealed  his  identity  to  his  brothers  who  had 


41  - 

boon  sent  into  Kgypt  after  corn  to  relieve  th'e  distress 
of  the  kindred  they  had  left  behind  them  in  a  famine 
stricken  land. 

Let  us  now  imagine  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob  as 
wage  earners,  and  from  the  time  of  their  reunion  re- 
eeiving  such  a  munificent  stipend  as  to  be  enabled  to 
lay  by  each  the  sum  of  five  dollars  per  day  over  and 
above  living  expenses. 

This  would  sum  up  sixty  dollars  per  day  for  the 
twelve  young  men. 

Let  us  further  imagine  them  as  for  ages  retaining 
the  vigor  and  energy  of  their  early  manhood — as  never 
growing  old,  and  with  the  one  object  of  accumulating 
money  in  view,  laboring  on  and  on  and  on,  through 
dynasty  after  dynasty,  and  century  after  century,  all  of 
them  finding  continuous  employment  at  good  wages, 
and  each  of  the  twelve  saving  up  five  dollars  a  day  for 
three  hundred  days  in  the  }Tear  as  in  the  beginning. 

One  might  suppose  at  a  venture  that  if  the  twelve 
men  so  laboring  were  still  at  work  in  our  day,  their  ag- 
gregate savings  would  at  least  equal  the  accumulations 
of  the  great  oil  magnate,  but  such  is  far  from  being  the 
case.  Were  that  their  aim,  well  might  they  feel  dis- 
couraged at  the  task  before  them,  because,  each  laying 
by  five  dollars  per  day  as  before,  to  accumulate  a  total 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  million  dollars  would  require 
that  they  still  labor  on  and  on,  century  in  and  century 
out.  for  more  than  three  thousand  years  beyond  the 
present  time! 

But  in  view  of  the  fact  that  under  our  social  regula- 
tions Mr.  Rockefeller  may  legitimately  obtain  control 
of  every  gallon  of  oil  in  the  country  and  dispose  of  the 
same  to  the  public  at  any  price  he  may  without  limit  a- 


—  42  — 

tion  or  hindrance  demand,  the  wonder  is  that  instead  of 
only  having  passed  the  hundred  million  mark  he  has 
not  already  become  a  billionaire. 

Fifty  years  ago  an  individual  possessed  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  was  accounted  wealthy,  and  many  a 
man  who  had  accumulated  such  a  sum  retired  from 
business  life. 

The  business  man  of  to-day  who  would  retire  on 
such  a  sum  would  be  considered  a  commercial  freak 
by  his  compeers.  The  custom  now  is  to  invest  in  cor- 
poration stock  which  earns  a  dividend  throughout  the 
life  of  him  by  whom  it  is  possessed,  then  for  his  legatees 
after  earthen  clods  have  rattled  o'er  his  bones. 

Some  men  like  some  beasts  are  more  ravenous  than 
others. 

Though  they  mete  out  ruin  and  disaster  to  thou- 
sands, their  avariciousness  can  ne'er  be  satiated. 

And  yet  these  human  carnivori  who  feed  on  flesh 
and  blood  as  well  as  gold,  are  not  wholly  responsible 
for  their  rapacious  natures.  Xever  beyond  the  fear  of 
possible  adversity  under  the  competitive  system,  they 
are  impelled  by  a  vague  ever  present  dread  of  a  reverse 
of  fortune,  to  accumulate  on  and  on  without  limit. 

The  fault  lies  in  the  system.  Make  land  and  the  oil, 
coal,  and-  other  resources  which  it  contains  collective 
property  as  it  ought  to  be,  and  the  accumulation  of  in- 
ordinate wealth  in  the  hands  of  individuals  would  be- 
come an  impossibility. 


SOCIETY.— V. 

TRUSTS  AND  COMBINES. 

\ 

As  in  the  earliest  of  times  we  still  compete  with  one 
another  for  the  means  of  subsistence.  Manufacturer 
competes  with  manufacturer,  farmer  with  farmer,  mer- 
chant with  merchant,  and  laborer  with  laborer. 

In  the  struggle  for  existence  and  a  competence  in 
which  the  individual  members  of  society  are  by  force 
of  circumstances  compelled  to  engage,  every  man's  hand 
is  industrially  and  commercially  raised  against  his  fel- 
low. 

And  the  endless  chain  of  cruelties  and  tragedies 
which  accompany  the  warfare  for  subsistence  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  fact  that  we  have  not  as  yet  fully  emerged 
from  a  social  status  bordering  upon  the  barbaric.  But 
men  are  beginning  to  realize  that  the  well  springs  of 
competition  in  production  and  commercial  distribution 
are  being  dammed  up  by  the  great  trusts  and  combines 
in  existence  and  forming.  And  they  comprehend  that 
the  crushing  out  of  competition  enables  the  few  to  levy 
tribute  upon  the  many.  But  the  majority  do  not  as  yet 
know  the  direction  in  which  to  look  for  relief. 

That  element  of  the  population  which  shuts  it- 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  in  the  great  monopoly  the  logical 
climax  of  competition  has  been  reached,  frantically 
urges  legislation  against  trusts  and  combines. 

Yet  we  readily  perceive  that  combinations  of  capi- 
43 


—  44  — 

tal  industrially  directed  are  perfectly  in  accord  with  the 
tenets  of  competition. 

If  two  men  may  combine  their  capital  as  partners  in 
business,  and  a  score  or  more  in  a  corporation,  then  a 
precedent  has  been  recognized  for  combinations  of  capi- 
tal without  end. 

The  law  that  would  say  that  two  or  more  weak  cor- 
porations may  combine,  but  that  strong  ones  must  re- 
frain from  so  doing,  would  certainly  be  an  extraordi- 
nary example  in  legislation. 

Moreover,  may  not  the  staunchest  monopoly  right- 
fully claim  that  it  is  subject  to  the  competition  of  any 
similar  combination  of  capital  that  may  be  made? 

The  agitation  against  the  trusts  however  has  a  mis- 
sion, and  that  is  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  fact  that  the  end  of  competition  is  drawing  near, 
and  that  something  must  be  done  to  prevent  the  spolia- 
tion of  the  masses  by  the  few  who  arc  rapidly  becoming 
masters  of  the  industrial  and  commercial  field. 

For  a  few  years  yet,  trust  will  compete  with  trust; 
but  combination  and  consolidation  goes  steadily  on,  and 
were  it  not  for  the  probability  that,  before  worst  comes 
to  worst,  the  people  collectively  will  in  their  sovereign 
right  assume  control  of  industry,  the  processes  by 
which  undreamed  of  wealth  accumulates  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  individuals  would  go  on  until  there  would  re- 
main but  one  great  trust  when  all  the  smaller  fish  have 
been  devoured. 

There  is  no  good  reason  why  strife,  contention,  and 
mutual  destruction  need  longer  attend  the  carrying  on 
of  industry,  and  in  so  far  as  the  trusts  are  crushing  out 
competition  they  are  unwittingly  doing  a  real  service 
to  human  it  v. 


—  45  — 

The  more  the  circle  of  competition  is  contracted 
the  nearer  we  approach  the  co-operative  commonwealth 
in  which  the  la-t  vestige  of  competition  in  the  produc- 
tion and  (listrihntion  of  commodities  would  disappear. 

To  attempt  to  legislate  the  trusts  and  combines  out 
of  existence  otherwise  than  by  organizing  the  entire 
population  into  a  greater  combine  which  would  assume* 
control  of  the  entire  range  of  production  would  be  an 
attempt  to  stem  the  tide  of  evolution,  and  would  only 
by  so  much  longer  continue  the  hardships  the  people 
would  be  compelled  to  endure. 


SOCIETY.— VI. 
INTEREST— WEALTH. 

As  universally  understood,  interest  may  be  defined 
as  money  charged  or  paid  for  the  use  of  money. 

But  in  an  economic  sense  it  embraces  rent  and  prof- 
it, the  latter  term  including  all  dividends  on  the  stock 
of  corporations.,  and  all  incomes  upon  investments  in 
general.  Thus  every  piece  of  city  real  estate,  every 
farm,  and  every  business  enterprise  is  supposed  to  yield 
a  certain  return  upon  its  cost,  and,  in  the  economic 
sense  remarked,  this  return  is  interest. 

In  so  far  as  the  loaning  of  money  at  an  interest 
charge,  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
individuals  have,  in  the  past,  facilitated  production, 
and  aided  to  develop  the  resources  of  newly  settled  dis- 
tricts they  have  proven  beneficial  to  society.  But  \\v 
have  arrived  at  a  stage  of  progress  where  society  need 
no  longer  depend  upon  individual  enterprise  for  the 
carrying  on  of  either  economic  production  or  distribu- 
tion; and  among  the  many  circumstances  which  indi- 
cate that  the  time  has  come  when  society  should  assume 
its  duties  and  responsibilities  in  this  regard  none  arc 
more  in  evidence  than  is  the  fact  that  from  a  blessing 
the  interest  charge  for  the  use  of  money  has  been 
turned  into  a  curse,  and  the  further  fact  that  the  own- 
ership by  individuals  of  vast  moneyed,  landed,  and 

other  estates  has  become  a  positive  menace  to  society, 

46 


_  47  — 

Some  time  ago  the  Xew  York  Tribune  published  a 
directory  of  American  millionaires  which  contained  a 
total  of  4,04?  names.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  for- 
tunes with  which  forty-seven  of  these  home  capitalists 
were  accredited  according  to  the  estimates  at  that  time, 
leaving  four  thousand  estates  whose  estimated  fortunes 
do  not  appear  but  which  range  from  one  to  several  mil- 
lion dollars  respectively: 

J.  D.   Rockefeller    $125,000,000 

W.  AY  Astor   120,000,000 

Jay  Gould  Estate   100,000,000 

Russell   Sage    90,000,000 

C.  Vanderbilt    80,000,000 

W.  K.  Vanderbilt   75,000,000 

II.  M.  Flagler 60,000,000 

AVm.  Rockefeller   60,000,000 

Hetty  Green 60,000,000 

John  .1.  Astor   50,000,000 

( '.  P.  Huntington .     50,000,000 

F.  AY  Yanderbilt 35,000,000 

S.  C.  Tiffany 35,000,000 

T.  A.  Havemeyer  and  II.  Estate 30,000,000 

P.  R.  Payne 30,000,000 

G.  AAr.  Yanderbilt 30,000,000 

Robert  Goelet    25,000,000 

J.  P.  Morgan  25,000,000 

Schermerhorn  Estate 25,000,000 

H.  H.  Rogers 25,000,000 

John  AY  Mackay    25,000,000 

Ogden  Goelet 20,000,000 

E.  T.  Gerry 20,000,000 

H.  0.  Havemeyer 20,000,000 

Henry  Hilton  " 20,000,000 


—  48  — 

Andrew  Cnrnegie '. 20,000,0(10 

Win.   ('.    Whitney    20,000,000 

Darius  ().   Mills   20,000,000 

Amos  ]?.  Kno 20,000,000 

John  I).  Arehbold 15,000,000 

IF.  V.  Newcomh   15,000,000 

Adrian   Iselin    12,ooo.ooo 

Bradley  Martin 10,000.000 

Eugene  Kelly 10.000.ooo 

Dr.  W.  S.  Webb 10,000,000 

J.  M.  (Constable 10,000,000 

'Hicks  Arnold    10,000,001) 

Anson  P.  Stokes 10,000,000 

S.  I).  Babcock 10,000,000 

(Jeo.   F.    Haker 10.000,000 

Austin   Corhin    10.000.000 

John  Claflin   10,000,000 

AV.  1?.  Grace 10,000,000 

F.  A.  Constable (;,000.ooo 

Adrian  Iseling,  ,Tr fi.000,00o 

Abram  S.  Hewitt  . :>.000.ooo 

James  Stokes   .  5.000,000 


Aggregate .  .$1,489,000*000 

4,000  others 4,000,000,000 


Total   $5,489,000,000 

Kstimating  the  fortunes  of  the  remaining  estates  ai 
the  minimum  figure  of  one  million  each,  we  obtain  a 
grand  total  as  above,  approximating  five  and  a  half  bil- 
lion dollars,  a  sum  equalling  one-twelfth  of  the  on  tire 
wealth  of  the  country  in  18<)0.* 

*The  total  valuation  of  the  real  and  personal  property 
in  the  country  according  to  the  census  of  1890,  was  $65,037,- 


—  49  — 

Wealth  increases  slowly  at  first  but    as  it    accumu- 

's  it  gains  a  wonderful  impetus.  Computed  retro- 
y  on  a  basis  of  increase  equalling  five  per  cent 
compounded  annually,  the  millionaire  of  the  present 
day  would  have  been  worth  half  a  million  fourteen 
years  ago,  a  quarter  of  a  million  twenty-eight  years  ago 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for- 
ty-two years  ago* 

We  therefore  perceive  that  while  at  a  five  per  cent 
rate  of  increase  compounded  annually  it  woi/id  have 
taken  an  individual  forty-two  years  to  increase  his  for- 
tune from  $125,000  to  one  million  dollars,  at  a  similar 
rate  of  increase  it  would  take  him  but  fourteen  years  to 
double  his  fortune,  twenty-eight  years  to  be  wortli  four 
millions,  and  forty-two  years  to  possess  a  fortune  of 
eight  million  dollars. 

At  a  similar  rate  of  growth,  with  prevailing  busi- 
ness 'methods  continued,  the  54  billions  which  4,047 
individuals  possess  would  increase  in 

1  1  years  to 11  billions. 

v?s  years  to 22 

I-.1  years  to 44 

5(5  years  to 88         " 

:<)  years  to 17(5 

84  years  to 352 

98  years  to 704 

In  56  years  their    combined    wealth    would    equal 


091,197,  of  which  amount  $39,544,544,333  represented  the 
value  of  real  estate  and  improvements  thereon,  and  $25,- 
492,546,864  that  of  personal  property  including  railroads, 
mines  and  quarries. 

*The  above  is  an  approximate  computation.  It  takes  14 
years  and  between  2  and  3  months  in  addition  for  the  prin- 
cipal of  a.  given  sum  to  double  itself  at  5  per  cent,  increase 
compounded  annually. 


-50  - 

more  than  one  and  a  third  times  the  total  wealth  of  the 
country  in  1890,  and  in  less  than  a  century,  these 
estates  if  kept  intact  would  aggregate  more  than  ten 
times  the  combined  wealth  of  the  people  at  the  last 
census. 

In  the  light  of  these  figures  must  we  not  conclude 
that  social  regulations  under  which  wealth  may  bo 
accumulated  to  the  detriment  ol'  the  masses  who  pro- 
duce that  wealth  ought  not  to  be  continued! 

The  time  of  the  possessors  of  the  larger  fortunes  is 
nearly  altogether  occupied  in  re-investing  their  ac- 
cumulated earnings,  and  never  satisfied  with  a  suffi- 
ciency they  continually  strive  to  become  the  richest 
of  the  rich. 

It  is  very  rarely  that  any  of  these  large  fortunes 
become  dissipated. 

Let  us  imagine  a  ten  million  dollar  scion  of  plu- 
tocracy indulging  in  the  most  senseless  extravagance. 

Were  he  to  give  an  elaborate  breakfast,  dinner,  and 
supper  to  his  friends  every  day  in  the  year  at  an  ex- 
pense of  one  hundred  dollars  for  each  meal  so  partaken, 
and  in  addition  squander  two  hundred  dollars  daily 
upon  clothes  and  incidentals,  notwithstanding  such 
outlay  which  would  sum  up  five  hundred  dollars  for 
every  day  in  the  year,  at  a  five  per  cent  return,  his  for- 
tune instead  of  diminishing  would  be  still  increasing 
over  and  above  his  expenditures  at  the  rate  of  nearly 
eight  hundred  and  seventy  dollars  a  day! 

Interest  as  commonly  understood  is  one  of  the  most 
aggressive  of  the  various  means  by  which  wealth  is  ac- 
cumulated in  modern  times.  The  aggregate  of  interest 
being  paid  on  national,  state,  county,  municipal,  school 
district,  railroad,  mortgage  and  individual  indebtedness 


—  51  — 

is  enormous,  and  the  bulk  of  it  goes  to  still  further 
augment  the  great  fortunes  of  the  world.* 

The  many  pay  tlu-.se  vast  interest  charges,  and  the 
few  receive  them.  How  will  the  principal  of  this  in- 
debtedness ever  be  paid? 

\Vere  competitive  methods  continued  indefinitely 
universal  repudiation  would  of  necessity  result. 

Happily  a  way  has  heen  found  by  which  the  indus- 
tries may  be  carried  on  without  the  necessity  of  look- 
ing to  moneyed  men  for  either  capital  or  superin- 
tendence. When  land,  and  the  machinery  of  produc- 
tion shall  have  been  socialized,  the  opportunities  for 
accumulating  vast  individual  wealth  will  no  longer 
exist,  interest  as  a  disturbing  element  in  the  social 
economy  will  disappear,  and  the  charging  of  rent  and 
profit  become  a  sole  prerogative  ( f  the  collectivity  for 
the  carrying  on  of  public  work  and  the  maintenance 
of  government. 


*The  census  of  1890  places  the  aggregate  national,  state 
and  territory,  county,  municipal  and  school  district  indebt- 
edness at  $2.027,170,546,  and  the  real  estate  mortgage  indebt- 
edness for  the  year  1889  (that  of  the  years  which  preced- 
ed it  and  in  force  in  1890  notbeingincluded)  £t  |1,752, 568,274. 
The  railway  handed  indebtedness  is  above  five  billion,  so 
that  the  aggregate  of  indebtedness  from  these  sources 
alone  approximates  nine  billion  dollars.  Individual  and 
corporate  indebtedness  otherwise  at  a  conservative  estim- 
ate would  exceed  ten  billion  dollars. 


SOCIETY.— VII. 
TAXATION. 

Old  John  Jacob  Astor  in  his  life  time  owned  con- 
siderable of  the  real  estate  in  the  City  of  Xew  York 
now  controlled  by  his  descendants. 

Being  importuned  by  a  friend  to  join  a  movement 
looking  to  a  reduction  of  the  rate  of  taxation  he  de- 
clined his  aid,  remarking  that  he  was  not  interested, 

"Xot  interested!''  exclaimed  his  friend,  "and  you 
the  largest  holder  of  realty  in  the  city?*' 

"I  will  tell  you  confidentially/'  he  explained,  "that 
whether  the  rate  of  taxation  is  high  or  low  I  do  not 
pay  a  dollar  of  it.  I  add  a  percentage  to  rentals  to 
cover  taxation,  and  my  tenants  pay  it  all."  And  the 
old  gentleman  laughed  at  his  joke.  He  knew  there  was 
nothing  to  be  kept  in  confidence  because  in  fixing  the 
rentals  of  buildings  a  percentage  to  cover  insurance, 
taxes  and  repairs  is  invariably  included. 

Yet  in  that  incident  there  is  ample  food  for  thought. 

In  effect,  the  successful  man  under  individual  com- 
petitive enterprise  pays  no  taxes  whatever.  It  is  the 
unsuccessful  men  who  are  largely  in  the  majority 
among  the  common  people — and  among  these  must  be 
numbered  the  men  who  do  not  own  much  more  than 
a  modest  home — who  pay  the  bulk  of  the  revenue 

raised  by  taxation. 

52 


—  53  — 

And  this  shifting  of  burdens  is  notice-able  through- 
cut  l  lui  fill  ire  modus  operand!  of  the  competitive  sys- 
tem. The  merchant  adds  the  interest  he  pays  at  the 
bank,  his  rent,  his  taxes,  and  other  expenses  of  his 
business  to  the  price  of  his  goods,  and  the  common 
people  pay  the  bill.  Railway  companies,  express  com- 
panies, and  other  corporations  shift  their  burdens  onto 
the  masses,  and  every  dollar  of  their  taxes  and  interest 
charges,  like  those  of  all  successful  business  enterprises, 
is  paid  by  the  public  which  gives  them  its  patronage. 

In  this  way  the  burdens  imposed  by  society  rest 
lightest  on  the  successful  man,  while  those  of  the  un- 
sucessful  are  increased  by  having  added  to  them  a  share 
of  what  should  be  contributed  by  those  who  succeed. 

And  this  shifting  of  burdens  must  continue  as  long 
as  the  competitive  system  lasts.  Only  through  collec- 
tive control  of  industry  will  it  ever  come  to  an  end. 

As  regards  our  methods  of  taxation  it  may  be  truth- 
fully asserted  that  no  just  and  equitable  system  of  taxa- 
tion has  ever  been  devised  or  put  into  effect. 

The  existing  system  gave  fair  satisfaction  up  to, 
say  sixty  years  ago  when  land  and  the  improvements 
thereon  formed  the  great  bulk  of  taxable  property  be- 
fore great  estates  in  railroad,  telegraph,  telephone,  ex- 
prc-s,  gas  and  electric  stocks  had  an  existence. 

But  even  in  those  days  the  cry  of  unfair  and  ex- 
cessive taxation  went  up  continuously,  and  in  our 
times,  even  to  ascertain  the  just  proportion  which  in- 
dividuals should  contribute  toward  the  support  of  gov- 
ernment, not  to  speak  of  compelling  its  payment,  seems 
an  utter  impossibility.* 


*There  seems  to  be  a  general  criminal  eagerness  to  evade 
taxation.     A  current  newspaper  item  runs  as  follows:     "It 


•       -  54  - 

The  one  great  factor  which  renders  our  system  of 
taxation  an  absurdity  as  an  economic  measure  is  the  un- 
knowableness  of  property  values.  No  fixed  value  na- 
turally attaches  itself  to  any  material  thing,  and  neither 
price  demanded,  purchase  price,  nor  the  sale  of  prop- 
erly at  public  vendue  unerringly  indicate  property 
values  which  are  altogether  artificial,  ever  tluctualiii;:, 
and  therefore,  as  regards  exactness,  unascertainable. 

Especially  is  this  true  of  landed  property,  the  vain'.1 
of  which  for  purposes  of  taxation  can  be  approximately 
determined  when  property  values  in  general  are  ad- 
vancing, but  in  an  era  of  falling  prices  the  fact  that 
land  values  are  a  mere  mental  conception  can  be  clear- 
ly discerned. 

The  most  conscientious  assessor  finds  himself  at  sea 
as  to  real  estate  values  in  a  period  of  stagnation  when 
sales  of  landed  property  can  be  made  only  at  enormous 
sacrifice. 

And  how  is  such  an  official  to  ascertain  the  value 
of  a  mining  claim,  an  oil  well,  a  coal  field,  a.  railway 
or  telegraph  system,  or  of  the  franchises  granted  to 
corporations  by  municipalities! 

Must  he  not  have  occult  powers  to  determine  the 


was  published  not  long  ago  over  the  sworn  affidavit  of  the 
auditor  of  Chicago  and  Cook  County,  Illinois,  that  the  farm- 
er's tools  and  machinery  of  Cook  County  were  assessed  for 
$30,000  more  than  all  the  money  and  securities  of  the  banks 
of  Chicago.  All  the  money  and  securities  of  the  banks  ag- 
gregating hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  were  assessed  at 
$53,925.  The  agricultural  tools  and  machinery  at  $84,392. 
The  securities  of  the  banks  without  the  money  were  as- 
sessed at  $10,000.  All  the  diamonds  and  jewelry  in  the  city 
were  assessed  at  $17,760.  while  it  was  known  that  single 
families  owned  more  than  ten  times  that  amount." 


—  55  — 

amount    of    money     of    which    individuals    are    pos- 
sessed?* 

And,  taking  notice  of  the  manner  in  which  cus- 
tom duties  are  collected  at  our  seaports  and  upon  our 
borders,  is  not  the  searching  of  the  person  and  belong- 
ings of  individuals  a  disgrace  to  our  civilization  and  the 
age  in  which  we  live? 

Vet  such  barbarities  are  a  fitting  accompaniment 
of  the  industrial  warfare  in  which  we  are  one  and  all 
participating. 

With  the  downfall  of  competition  in  economic  pro- 
duction we  will  be  enabled  to  dispense  with  all  customs 
on  imports,  and  to  brush  away  the  entire  network  of 
slate  and  national  taxation  which  is  possessed  of  the 
strange  quality  of  catching  the  little  fish  while  per- 
mitting the  big  ones  to  escape  through  its  meshes. 

Taxation  was  originally  instituted  as  a  means  of  de- 
fraying the  necessary  expense  of  government,  but  it  is 
now  urged  as  a  panacea  for  the  various  ailments  of  the 
body  politic  produced  solely  and  alone  by  the  competi- 
tive methods  of  industry  now  in  vogue. 

Of  such  a  nature  is  the  proposition  to  protect 
American  industries  by  the  imposition  of  a  high  tariff 
which  carries  with  it  an  increased  tax  on  commodities 
which  our  people  consume.  This  policy  is  now  being 
enforced.  At  the  same  time  the  high  duty  levied  on 


*Speaking  of  personal  property  of  the  class  denominated 
securities  including  stocks,  bonds,  notes,  mortgages  and  the 
like  which  escapes  taxation  ex-President  Harrison  says: 
"The  delinquency  appears  to  be  located  largely  in  our  great 
citi.-s.  Recent  investigations  have  disclosed  an  appalling 
condition  of  things.  The  evil  seems  to  have  been  progress- 
ing until  in  some  of  our  great  centers  of  population  and 
woalth  these  forms  of  personal  property  seem  to  have  been 
almost  eliminated  from  the  tax  list." 


—  56  — 

imports  does  not  and  can  not  raise  the  price  of  com- 
modities which  we  export  and  offer  for  sale  in  foreign 
markets  one  iota. 

The  entire  idea  is  as  absurd  as  would  be  a  provision 
attached  to  the  tariff  bill  making  it  unlawful  for  any 
foreign  nation  to  retaliate  in  kind.* 

Simmered  down,  high  tariff  legislation,  beyond  a 
schedule  providing  a  sufficiency  of  revenue  for  the  car- 
rying on  of  government  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
class  legislation  by  which  some  receive  an  advantage 
at  the  expense  of  the  remainder  of  the  population. 

The  taxation  route  is  also  urged  as  a  cure  for  the 
millionaire  evil,  but  neither  a  graduated  income  tax, 
nor  a  tax  on  inheritance  would  prevent  the  accumula- 
tion of  vast  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  individuals. 
Nothing  short  of  the  overthrow  of  competition  in  pro- 
duction will  accomplish  that  result. 

Another  proposition  which  attempts  to  reconcile  the 
inconsistencies  of  the  competitive  system  is  the  single 
tax  on  land.  "Place  the  entire  burden  of  taxation  upon 
land,"  say  the  advocates  of  this  plan,  "then  large  hold- 
ings will  be  broken  up,  a  series  of  small  farms  will  result 
and  all  will  be  well/* 

We  remarked  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the  ten- 
dency is  away  from  small  farms  and  small  production 
toward  collective  production  on  a  national  scale. 

The  more  farmers  the  more  competition  would  en- 
sue, and,  as  robber  barons  of  old  relieved  the  peasantry 
of  the  fruits  of  their  labor  in  the  davs  of  feudalism,  so 


*Since  the  above  was  written,  Germany  i?  retaliating  in 
kind  by  closing  her  markets  on  various  pretexts  to  a 
number  of  the  commodities  we  produce. 


—  57  — 

would  modern  exploiting  barons  swoop  down  upon 
them  from  elegantly  furnished  apartments  in  the  rail- 
way and  hanking  centers  and  the  corridors  of  the  stock 
exchange,  and  despoil  them  of  their  wealth  as  fast  as 
created. 

Moreover,  to  exempt  the  valuable  improvements 
upon  land  in  city  and  country  from  taxation  would  be 
as  unjust  and  inequitable  as  would  be  the  theory  of  an 
opposing  school  urging  a  single  tax  upon  improvements 
and  exempting  the  land  itself.  The  proposition  to  tax 
landowners  "out  of  existence"  upon  their  holdings 
would  be  in  reality  only  another  form  of  confiscation. 
When  government  now  takes  private  property  for  col- 
lective use  it  purchases  it  at  an  appraised  value.  A 
precedent  has  therefore  been  set  as  regards  the  method 
by  which  land  in  general  will  eventually  be  acquired  by 
the  collectivity.  With  the  advent  of  a  collective  dem- 
ocracy the  system  of  taxation  as  now  maintained  with 
its  legion  of  assessors,  collectors,  clerks  and  other  offi- 
cials would  be  abolished  in  city,  county,  state,  and 
nation. 

The  main  sources  from  which  taxes  are  now  derived, 
namely,  land  and  the  improvements  thereon,  machin- 
ery, merchandise,  and  the  means  of  transportation 
would  then  be  public  property,  whilst  private  property 
such  as  household  furniture,  books,  pictures,  moto- 
cycles,  musical  instruments,  wearing  apparel,  and  so 
on,  would  be  entirely  exempt  from  taxation. 

Cost  of  administration  would  include  the  carrying 
on  of  industry  in  general,  and  be  defrayed  out  of  re- 
ceipts from  rental  of  buildings,  from  profits  upon  com- 
modities which  the  collectivity  would  both  produce,  and 


—  58  — 

distribute,  from  charges  for  transportation,  and  from 
the  revenues  for  other  service  supplied  to  the  people. 
The  co-operative  commonwealth  then  becomes  the 
remedy  for  the  inequalities  of  the  existing  system  of 
taxation.  There  is  no  other  solution  of  the  problem. 


SOCIETY.— VIII. 
LABOR. 

The  labor  problem  has  met  with  but  little  consid- 
eration in  the  past,  the  result  probably  of  a  realization 
that  nothing  of  moment  could  be  done  towards  secur- 
ing to  the  laborer  continuous  employment  and  a  fair 
remuneration  for  his  toil  m  a  competitive  state  of 
society. 

The  labor  problem,  however,  occupies  an  inter-re- 
lated position  to  other  public  questions,  and  because  of 
this  it  has  acquired  a  new  significance,  and  has  been 
forced  into  the  political  arena  for  final  adjudication. 

Under  existing  conditions  it  becomes  impossible  for 
the  wage  earners  collectively  to  obtain  either  shorter 
hours  or  fitting  remuneration  for  their  labor,  not  to 
speak  of  the  uncertainty  of  either  obtaining  or  retain- 
ing employment,  because,  under  competitive  methods 
of  industry,  the  price  of  labor,  like  the  price  of  com- 
modities, is  regulated  by  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand, and,  while  the  over-stocked  labor  market  con- 
tinues to  be  augmented  by  the  men  thrown  out  j)f  em- 
ployment by  labor-saving  machinery,  by  foreign  im- 
migration, and  by  the  natural  increase  in  population— 
and  no  doubt  there  will  continue  to  be  an  over-supply 
from  these  sources  in  the  immediate  future  as  in  the 

59 


—  60  — 

past — there  is  no  reasonable  ground  for  hope  of  a  per- 
manent rise  in  the  price  of  labor,  or  that  laborers 
as  a  class  will  ever  become  independent  enough  to  suc- 
cessfully agitate  for  a  shorter  working  day. 

As  matters  now  stand,  employers  have  at  least  a 
legal,  if  not  an  ethical  or  moral  right,  to  employ  the 
cheapest  labor  capable  of  performing  the  required 
work,  to  be  obtained.  And  men  who  lose  their  employ- 
ment by  reason  of  such  a  condition,  as  well  as  those 
who  are  compelled  by  their  necessities  to  accept  em- 
ployment at  any  wage  offered,  have  no  legal  redress. 
Take  for  example  the  case  of  coal  miners  who  eke  out 
the  barest  existence  upon  next  to  starvation  wages. 
They  follow  a  hazardous  vocation,  and,  in  all  reason,  are 
entitled  to  fair  compensation  for  their  labor.  But  their 
employers  own  the  mines,  and  under  our  social  regula- 
tions have  the  sole  right  to  determine  what  wages  they 
will  pay,  and  how  they  may  choose  to  operate  their 
properties. 

As'  long  as  the  competitive  system  endures  no  one 
on  the  outside  has  a  right  to  interfere. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  about  arbitration  as  a  remedy 
for  the  wrongs  of  labor,  but  applied  it  would  prove  an 
absurdity  and  chimera.  It  would  work  something  like 
this:  Say  there  is  a  strike  in  a  coal  region.  The  opera- 
tors select  an  employer  to  look  after  their,  interests, 
and  the  miners  a  workingmnn  to  represent  theirs.  Sn 
far  good.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  selection  of  the 
third  arbitrator  we  may  rest  assured  that  he  would  be 
either  an  employer  outright  or  a  mere  tool  to  carry  out 
the  ends  of  capitalism.  He  certainly  would  not  be 
taken  from  the  ranks  of  labor.  Under  no  consideration 


-  61  — 

would  tlie  lion  consent  to  arbitrate  with   the  lamb  if 
there  was  the  least  chance  of  losing  his  dinner. 

Working  ])eo])le  do  not  seem  to  comprehend  that 
the  competitive  system  is  predicated  neither  on  senti- 
ment, nor  sympathy,  nor  honesty,  nor  equity,  nor  on 
any  other  elevating  trait  or  quality  which  noble  men 
possess,  but  solely  and  alone  upon  self-interest.  It  is 
only  rarely  or  occasionally  to  the  interest  of  an  em- 
ployer to  raise  wages.  To  do  so  from  any  motive  of 
sentiment,  sympathy,  or  even  of  moral  right  is  not  in 
accord  with  the  theory  of  competition  for  selfish  gain, 
according  to  which  an  employer  could  not  be  expected 
to  increase  the  compensation  of  his  employes  unles- 
compelled  to  do  so  by  a  scarcity  of  laborers.  This 
would  literally  accord  with  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand as  remarked,  and  the  reason  why  strikes  in  thesu 
latter  }rears  do  not  and  cannot  succeed  is  because  there 
is  always  a  supply  of  labor  conveniently  at  hand  to  take 
the  strikers'  places.  Just  as  manufacturer  competes 
with  manufacturer  and  tradesman  with  tradesman,  so 
laborer  is  compelled  under  existing  industrial  methods 
to  compete  with  laborer  for  the  opportunities  for  work 
that  present  themselves. 

Competition  is  simply  industrial  warfare,  and  if 
men  are  satisfied  with  its  operation  they  must  not  cry 
out  when  they  get  worsted  in  the  fray. 

But  that  does  not  mean  that  it  is  not  laudable  and 
right  and  proper  for  those  who  see  a  better  way  of  carry- 
ing on  industry  than  by  competitive  methods  to  raise 
their  voice  in  an  attempt  to  better  the  condition  of  the 
wealth  producers.  There  are  neither  strikes,  lock-outs, 
nor  boycotts  in  the  postal  department;  neither  would 


—  62  — 

there  be  in  any  of  the  many  existing  industrial  depart- 
ments were  they  carried  on  exclusively  by  the  nation. 
The  solution  of  the  labor  problem  lies  in  the  so- 
cialization of  industry  which  includes  the  nationaliza- 
tion of  land  from  and  out  of  which  labor  creates  all 
material  wealth. 


SOCIETY.— IX. 
LABOR  (Continued). 

The  natural  drift  is  continually  away  from  individ- 
ual labor  producing  singly  and  alone  to  collective  or 
associated  labor. 

We  see  the  shoemaker  succeeded  by  the  shoe  plant, 
the  carpenter  by  the  planing  mill,  the  blacksmith  by 
the  machine  shop,  and  so  on;  and  the  further  we  travel 
.along  the  road  leading  to  collective  production,  the 
more  marked  become  the  indications  and  signs  that  we 
are  approaching  the  goal. 

When  men  can  no  longer  produce  commodities  by 
their  individual  unaided  efforts,  and,  like  in  modern 
manufactures,  costly  machinery  and  the  co-operation 
of  a  number  of  workers  is  required  to  carry  on  produc- 
tion, a  new  economic  factor  becomes  injected  into  the 
industrial  problem,  and  that  factor  is  the  question  of 
who  ought  of  right  to  be  entitled  to  the  margin  of 
wealth  created  over  and  above  the  wage  compensation 
of  the  workers. 

Were  it  absolutely  impossible  to  arrange  things  in 
this  regard  otherwise  than  as  at  present,  the  owner  of 
the  •machinery  would  for  all  time  be  entitled  to  the 
entire  margin  of  wealth  created  by  the  co-operation  of 
his  workmen.  But  if,  in  order  to  prevent  a  few  from 
appropriating  to  themselves  the  surplus  of  wealth  nv- 

ated  by  the  many,  society  were  to  provide  the  machin- 

63 


—  64  — 

t-ry  necessary  to  production,  the  margin  of  wealth 
created  over  and  above  the  wage  compensation  of  the 
workers  could  and  would  be  set  aside  as  social  capital, 
or  the  capital  of  society,  to  be  reinvested  in  new  ma- 
chinery thereby  opening  up  avenues  and  opportunity 
of  employment  to  all. 

In  this  way,  the  20  per  cent,  say,  of  surplus  wealth 
which  the  laborers  of  the  country  collectively  produce, 
instead  of  serving  to  create  a  few  billionaires,  would 
make  it  possible  for  society  through  its  industrial  chan- 
nels and  its  public  works  to  enhance  immensely  the 
comfort  and  the  happiness  of  the  people. 

When  we  so  arrange  that  individuals,  as  now,  be- 
come possessed  of  this  surplus  of  wealth  we  uncon- 
sciously encourage  the  oppression  of  labor,  because  in 
supplying  our  wants,  impelled  by  our  necessities,  we 
purchase  the  lowest  priced  article  of  a  satisfactory  qual- 
ity we  can  obtain,  and  such,  as  a  rule,  are  manufactured 
by  firms  or  corporations  paying  a  low  wage  compensa- 
tion to  their  hands.* 

In  this  manner  the  very  patronage  of  the  people 
serves  to  build  up  institutions  opposed  to  their  interests 
as  laborers.** 

But  such  are  the  beauties  of  competitive  methods  of 
production.  . 

Under  collective  control  of    industry    all    workers 


*The  manufacturer  paying  the  lowest  wage  is  the  one 
that  usually  succeeds  in  a  competitive  market.  We  have 
seen  a  demonstration  of  this  recently  in  the  removal  of  cot- 
ton mills  from  New  England  to  Southern  localities  where 
cheaper  labor  can  be  obtained. 

**The  economic  term  laborer  embraces  all  individuals 
who  do  useful  labor  for  society.  Not  alone  wage  earners, 
but  business  and  professional  men  and  women  as  well  are 
economic  laborers. 


—  65  — 

could  l)i>  well  compensated,  hours  of  labor  could  be 
shortened,  and  what  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  the 
margin  of  profit  on  commodities  would  go  hack  to  the 
people  to  swell  the  accretion  of  social  capital. 

As  it  is  now,  the  displacement  of  men  by  machinery 
goes  steadily  on,  a  large  number  of  would-be  wealth 
producers  are  unemployed,  the  average  of  wages  earned 
is  low,  and  the  majority  of  the  people  are  but  ekeing 
out  a  hand-to-mouth  existence. 

And  it  remains  for  the  masses  to  determine  whether 
the  control  of  industry  shall  remain  in  the  hands  of  a 
limited  number  of  individuals  and  corporations  with 
the  assurance  that  the  unsatisfactory  status  of  labor 
will  continue,  or  whether  by  public  ownership  and  oper- 
ation of  the  various  industries  they  will  emancipate 
themselves  from  the  thralldom  of  capital  privately  em- 
ployed, the  increment  or  gain  accruing  from  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  public  going  back  as  a  sequence  to  the 
public  which  would  supply  that  patronage,  and  which 
because  of  that  patronage  is  to  such  increment  or  gain 
of  right  entitled. 


SOCIETY.— X. 

PUBLIC  SERVICE 

The  true  definition  of  the  word  patriot  is,  k'one 
who  serves  his  country."  The  people  of  a  nation 
should  all  be  patriots — should  all  serve  their  country. 
Only  those  holding  public  positions  now  servo  their 
country.  The  remainder  of  the  population  merely  de- 
cide upon  it  as  the  place  in  which  they  will  strive  to 
obtain  a  livelihood.  They  do  this  in  competition,  and 
competition  is  strife.  Were  they  also  public  servants 
•strife  would  give  way  to  co-operation. 

We  have  no  rulers.  The  president  and  all  exe- 
cutives, the  judges  of  the  national  supreme  court  and 
our  entire  judiciary,  our  congressmen,  our  legislators, 
and  our  officials  down  to  the  janitors  of  our  pu))l it- 
structures  are  but  public  servants. 

That  is  why  ostentatious  demonstrations  by  those 
in  high  positions  do  not  appear  seemly  and  proper  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people  whom  they  were  selected  to  serve. 

A  public  servant  cannot  but  feel  the  dignity  of  his 
position,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service- 
shudders  at  contemplation  of  a  return  into  the  com- 
petitive struggle  to  gain  a  livelihood. 

The  abuse  of  their  trusts  by  those  holding  public 
office  is  in  no  way  chargeable  to  their  socialized  posi- 
tions, but  is  due  entirely  to  the.  extraneous  influences 

with  which  they  come  in  contact. 

66 


—  67  — 

All  about  them  surges  an  ocean  of  competing  hu- 
manity, and  yielding  to  the  temptation  to  seize  upon 
the  wreckage  with  which  it  is  strewn,  they  are  drawn 
into  the  vortex  of  the  tide,  and  go  down  to  a  moral 
oblivion. 

Society  now  unjustly  discriminates  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  its  favors. 

It  takes  over  a  limited  number  of  the  population 
into  the  public  service,  while  the  majority  remain  en- 
slaved to  the  degrading  competitive  industrial  methods 
which  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  earliest  of  times. 

Gradually,  as  the  powers  of  government  become  ex- 
tended, more  and  more  of  the  population  will  be  trans- 
ferred from  the  ranks  of  competitive  industry  into  so- 
ciety employ,  until,  under  complete  collective  control  of 
industry,  any  worker  with  hand  or  brain  will  have  the 
opportunity  to  engage  and  be  advanced  in  the  public 
service. 

The  doom  of  the  merchant  of  limited  means  has 
already  been  pronounced. 

When  a  few  gigantic  aggregations  of  capital  shall 
have  gained  entire  control  of  the  commercial  field  as 
they  certainly  will  in  the  near  future,  no  other  choice 
will  be  left  the  business  intellects  of  the  nation  but  to 
enter  the  employ  of  these  corporations  where  they  would 
retain  their  positions  only  by  the  sacrifice  of  their  in- 
dependence, and  the  surrender  of  their  manhood v 

Would  they  not  vastly  prefer  a  dignified  position  in 
the  commercial  or  distributor}'  service  of  the  col- 
lectivity? 

Are  the  callings  of  the  employes  in  the  public  ser- 
vice at  the  present  time  not  honorable  and  desirable? 


—  68  — 

How  proud  we  are  to  serve  our  country  in  its  mili- 
tary arm! 

When  war  shall  he  no  more,  and  the  avenues  for 
displaying  our  zeal,  patriotism,  and  love  of  country  hv 
scientifically  murdering  our  fellow  beings  shall  be 
closed,  will  it  be  said  that  thereby  we  shall  forever  he 
debarred  from  gaining  honor  and  distinction  in  the 
service  of  our  country  ? 

"Peace  hath  her  victories  as  well  as  war."  The  day 
is  rolling  on  in  time  when  with  no  sordid  considerations 
to  retard  his  better  impulses  all  the  noble  aspirations 
of  man  will  be  directed  for  the  common  weal,  and  when 
that  time  shall  come,  he  whose  work  is  well  done,  how- 
ever humble  may  be  the  field  of  his  labor,  will  enjoy 
that  full  respect  of  the  community  which  is  a  stranger 
to  the  manual  toiler  of  the  present  day;  while  the  vic- 
tories of  the  intellect  will  be  more  generously  rewarded 
than  any  that  have  been  awarded  the  epaulette  in  the 
history  of  the  past, 


SOCIETY.— XI. 
MONEY 

In  a  consideration  of  the  money  problem  it  must 
be  understood  at  the  outset  that  money,  like  other 
factors  of  human  progress,  is  undergoing  an  evolu- 
tionary change.  The  semi-barharous  tribes  who  had 
recourse  to  barter  no  doubt  imagined  that  the  acme  of 
h  i'  man  wisdom  had  been  reached  in  the  matter  of  the 
exchange  of  commodities;  and  so  it  had — in  their  day. 

And  similarly  the  commercial  and  financial  world  in 
the  era  ante-dating  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing 
— when  the  idea  of  the  bank-note  still  lay  unevolved  in 
time — harbored  the  idea  that  coined  gold  and  silver 
would  forever  be  and  remain  the  money  of  intermedi- 
ate exchange. 

But  the  commercial  and  financial  world  of  fo-day  de- 
clares one  of  these  metals  to  be  unfit  for  monetary  uses 
except  in  a  limited  way  when  based  on  gold.  And  we  are 
still  moving  on.  The  tendency  of  the  age  is  toward  that 
form  of  circulating  medium  which  is  most  convenient — 
paper — and  the  indications  are  that  the  doom  of  gold  is 
a  monetary  token  will  shortly  be  pronounced. 

If  we  desire  to  obtain  an  idea  of  what  the  money  of 
the  future  will,  in  all  probability  be  like  in  appearance, 
we  have  but  to  glance  at  the  trca>iiry  notes  of  govern- 
ment in  use  at  the  present  time.  The  wording  upon  the 

69 


-  70  — 

perfected  treasury  bills  of  the  future  may  differ  slightly 
from  that  engraved  upon  treasury  paper  of  the  present, 
day.  The  words,  "promise  to  pay  to  bearer/'  will  proba- 
bly be  expunged,  and  some  such  phrase  as,  "This  bill  is 
redeemable  in  any  resource  of  government,"  may  be  sub- 
stituted. But  on  the  whole  it  will  be  as  readily  dislin- 
guished  as  money  as  is  the  paper  currency  now  in  circu- 
lation. 

With  this  unquestionable  trend  in  the  evolution  of 
the  medium  of  exchange  for  a  guide,  we  will  proceed  to 
examine  'more  closely  into  the  money  question. 

As  intimated  in  a  former  chapter,  no  value  attaches 
itself  by  nature  to  any  material  thing,  all  values  as  we 
know  them,  including  that  of  gold,  being  purely  artifi- 
cial. 

So  we  find  gold  and  silver  like  wheat,  corn,  cutlle 
and  so  forth,  by  nature,  commodities  pure  and  simple. 

Like  other  commodities  these  so-called  precious  me- 
tals have  values  for  use,  but  having  in  addition  been 
given  monetary  preference  by  law,  they  carry  each  two 
separate  and  distinct  values  in  the  world's  transactions 
of  exchange.  Thus  bars  of  silver  and  gold  have  simply 
values  as  commodities,  while  gold  and  silver  coins  have 
both  a  commodity  and  a  monetary  value.  To  fulfill  the 
true  purpose  of  a  circulating  medium  the  commodity 
value  of  minted  coins  should  never  rise  above  the  mone- 
tary value  attached  to  them. 

If  their  commodity  value  rise  above  their  monetary 
value  it  is  but  natural  for  those  who  possess  them  to 
either  throw  them  upon  the  market  as  commodities,  or 
withhold  them  for  speculation.  For  these  reasons  they 


—  71  — 

disappear  from  the  circulation  of  a  country  when  at  a 
premium.* 

On  the  other  hand,  the  artificial  monetary  values 
given  these  metals  by  law  acts  as  a  check  upon  any 
downward  tendency  in  their  selling  price,  so  that  their 
monetary  value,  as  long  as  upheld  by  law,  becomes  the 
minimum  price  below  which  they  will  not  fall.** 

But  how  does  it  become  possible  for  the  commodity 
value  of  coined  gold  to  rise  above  its  monetary  value? 

Why  does  it  not  simply  show  an  appreciation  as  com- 
pared with  the  price  of  labor  and  commodities  instead 
of  being  as  it  is  at  times  quoted  at  a  premium? 

In  other  words,  why  not  realize  that  a  certain  sum  in 
gold  coin  will  buy  two  bushels  of  wheat  where  before  it 
would  purchase  but  one,  instead  of  saying  that  gold  is  at 
a  hundred  per  cent  premium,  and  let  it  go  at  that? 

The  phenomenon  of  a  premium  on  gold,  which  is  of 
comparatively  recent  origin,  is  easily  accounted  for. 


*From  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  up  to  January 
1,  1879,  when  specie  payments  were  resumed  by  government, 
no  gold  circulated  as  money  in  the  country.  During  'that 
extended  period  it  fluctuated  as  a  commodity  reaching  its 
highest  figure,  $2.67  for  one  dollar  of  gold,  on  the  9th  day 
of  July,  1864.  This  was  the  price  on  the  public  board  in 
New  York  City.  Outside  the  public  board  $2.80  was  re- 
corded. Another  notable  instance  of  the  rise  in  the  price 
of  gold  as  a  commodity  was  the  corner  manipulated  in  tlu» 
fall  of  1869  when  'the  price  of  gold  rose  on  Wall  street  to 
$1.<;.°>V£,  or  63%  cents  above  its  monetary  value.  This  cor- 
ner in  the  coined  gold  commodity,  by  the  interference  of 
government  on  the  24th  day  of  September  of  that  year, 
terminated  in  the  wreck  of  fortunes  on  what  is  known  in 
history  as  "Black  Friday." 

**Silver  bullion  did  not  fall  below  the  monetary  value  of 
coined  silver  until  after  the  passage  of  legislation  discon- 
tinuing the  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar.  Similarly  a  fall  in 
the  value  of  gold  bullion  would  occur  upon  the  passage  of 
a  law  discontinuing  the  coinage  of  gold. 


—  72  — 

Before  the  days  of  the  bank-note  such  a  thing  would 
have  been  impossible,  because  to  go  to  a  premium  in 
the  past  when  metallic  money  was  the  sole  medium  of 
exchange  it  would  have  had  to  acquire  a  separate  in- 
creased value  over  itself  which  is  an  entirely  irrational 
proposition. 

Its  appreciation  at  such  a  time  could  have  found  ex- 
pression only  in  a  general  depreciation  of  property  val- 
ues, of  the  price  of  commodities,  and  of  the  compensa- 
tion for  labor  or  service. 

It  is  only  when  an  evolutionary  advance  brings  an 
additional  medium  of  exchange  into  the  monetary  field, 
and  the  artificial  values  of  two  such  mediums  of  ex- 
change diverge  or  are  at  variance,  that  a  premium  on 
gold  becomes  a  possibility. 

Such  a  new  medium  of  exchange  was  the  outgrowth 
of  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing,  and,  like  notwith- 
standing the  advent  of  railroads  the  rattle  of  the  stage 
coach  is  still  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  so  are 
metallic  and  non-metallic  currencies,  one  the  money  of 
a  crude  civilization,  the  other  a  circulating  medium  in 
keeping  with  the  age  and  improving  as  its  imperfections 
are  eliminated,  being  employed  side  by  side. 

Each  still  fills  a  definite  sphere  of  usefulness,  but  as 
certainly  as  the  railroad  constantly  encroaches  upon  the 
domain  of  the  stage  coach,  or  a  new  tooth  loosens  and 
forces  out  its  predecessor  in  our  anatomy,  so  is  the  ne\v 
economic  growth,  which  has  sprouted  in  financial  soil, 
loosening  the  grip  of  gold  upon  industry,  and  will  event- 
ually force  it  out  of  the  monetary  field. 

And  does  not  gold  betake  itself  out  of  the  mone- 
tary field  whenever  i(  goes  to  a  premium  and  becomes 
a  commodity? 


—  73  — 

Sonic  <!;iy  it  will  go  out,  and,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
domestic  who  insisted  upon  having  a  day  off  whenever 
so  inclined,  will  not  he  permitted  to  return. 

A-  long,  however,  as  government  is  enabled  to  ex- 
change gold  coin  freely  for  its  treasury  obligations  pay- 
aide  on  demand,  the  parity  of  our  paper  and  metallic 
currencies  will  he  maintained.* 

But  when  circumstances  make  it  impossible  for  gov- 
ernment to  redeem  its  treasury  paper  in  gold  on  demand, 
or  in  other  words,  when  for  any  cause  specie  payments 
arc  suspended  by  government,  a  premium  on  gold  may 
with  reasonable  certainty,  be  looked  for  as  a  result. 

A  superannuated  monetary  system,  like  an  imperfect 
piece  of  machinerv  when  continued  in  use,  becomes 
more  and  more  unsatisfactory. 

How  in  recent  years  we  were  compelled  to  purchase 
gold  at  an  interest  charge  in  an  era  of  profound  peace 
in  order  to  maintain  the  parity  between  our  currencies 
may  be  a  circumstance  still  fresh  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader. 

The  methods  then  employed  have  caused  us  to  real- 
ixe  that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  future  raids  upon 
the  gold  reserve  by  men  of  wealth  acting  in  combination 
to  the  end  that  they  may  reap  an  advantage  through 
additional  bond  issues.  An  increase  of  revenue  would 
help  matters  very  little  as  a  preventative  in  that  regard. 
It  could  at  most  only  provide  means  to  meet  the  interest 


*The  gold  corner  manipulated  by  Fisk  and  Gould  in  the 
fall  of  1869  was  broken  by  the  obvious  ability  of  government 
to  redeem  its  paper  in  gold  on  demand,  for  when  govern- 
ment, disregarding  the  enhanced  value  of  gold,  exchanged 
a  liberal  amount  of  gold  coin  for  its  treasury  notes  on  u 
parity  'the  commodity  price  of  gold  at  once  fell  to  the  level 
of  its  monetary  value. 


—  74  — 

on  the  bonds  issued  in  the  purchase  of  metallic  money 
required  for  the  redemption  of  treasury  paper. 

Purchase  of  money!  Think  of  it.  We  as  a  nation 
repurchase  the  commodity  we  employ  as  a  medium  of 
exchange  at  an  advance,  which  in  effect  nullifies  the 
value  we  declare  it  to  have  according  to  the  stamp  it 
hears!  We  may  make  sacrifice  upon  sacrifice  in  order  to 
prevent  a  divergence  in  value  between  our  gold  and  pa- 
per circulations,  but  like  Banquo's  ghost  the  spectre 
of  a  premium  on  gold  will  not  down. 

As  long  as  we  continue  a  metallic  currency  in  use 
with  paper  issues  based  upon  it,  we  maintain  a  monetary 
status  under  which  we  are  ever  threatened  with  a  prem- 
ium on  gold  and  its  disastrous  effects. 

Nor  can  the  paper  issues  of  the  country  be  safely  re- 
tired. They  are  needed  to  supplement  the  volume  of  me- 
tallic money  which  is  too  limited  in  amount  to  perform 
the  work  of  an  adequate  circulating  medium.  That  such 
as  these  are  a  necessity  is  the  experience  of  every  pro- 
gressive government  of  earth.  Conditions  have  changed 
so  that  the  world  can  no  longer  transact  its  business 
with  an  exclusive  metallic  currency  in  use. 

If  government  redeems  its  notes  in  gold  on  demand, 
all  is  well.  If  not,  we  have  both  an  appreciated  and  a 
depreciated  currency.  In  fact  we  arc  in  a  dilemma.  We 
must  either  desist  from  the- use  of  any  and  all  forms  of 
paper  currency  and  make  a  premium  on  gold  an  impos- 
sibility, or  we  must  strip  gold  of  its  money  quality  so  as 
to  reduce  it  to  the  status  of  other  commodities. 

To  decide  upon  the  latter  course  is  to  advance.  To 
confine  ourselves  to  an  exclusive  metallic  currency  is  to 
retrograde. 

Which  shall  we  do? 


—  75  — 

In  former  chapters  wo  have  endeavored  to  prove  that 
the  economic  trend  is  in  the  direction  of  the  collective 
ownership  of  land  and  the.  machinery  of  production. 

The  demonetization  of  gold,  and  the  substitution  of 
a  paper  circulating  medium,  as  outlined  in  this  and  sub- 
sequent chapters,  would  fully  harmonize  with  such  a 
rhango,  and  be  in  line  with  the  evolution  of  money  in 
general. 


SOCIETY.— XII. 
MONEY  (Continued). 

The  monetary  designation  one  dollar,  the  equiva- 
lent of  one  hundred  cents,  has  been  established  as  the 
monetary  measure  in  the  United  States. 

In  connection  with  the  subsidiary  coinage,  and  its 
multiplied  forms  in  bills  and  coins  of  greater  denomi- 
nation it  measures  the  artificial  values  placed  upon  com- 
modities and  the  labor  of  individuals  a  great  deal  like 
the  foot  rule  and  its  inch  subdivisions,  in  connection 
wini  its  multiplied  forms  in  the  yard  stick,  the  ten-foot 
pole,  and  the  tape  line,  measures  length.  This  mone- 
tary measure,  beside  the  law  by  which  it  is  created, 
consists  entirely  and  alone  of  the  money  stamp  im- 
pressed by  government,  and  of  itself  is  fixed,  stable  and 
invariable. 

But  unlike  other  measures,  mankind  has  for  ages 
joined  the  monetary  measure  to  one  or  more  of  the 
things  to  be  measured  thereby  impairing  its  usefulness 
as  a  monetary  rule. 

If  we  stamp  the  words  "ten  dollars"  upon  a  quantity 
of  gold  that  will  sell  in  the  market  at  times  for  fifteen 
or  twenty  dollars,  we  construct  our  monetary  measure 
out  of  a  material  unstable  in  value,  and  certainly  not 
best  adapted  to  a  monetary  use. 

All  measures  are  simply  tools  and  conveniences. 

We  do  not  make  yard  slicks,  pound  weights,  or  bushel 
76 


—  77  — 

measures  of  either  gold  or  silver.  Being  merely  tools 
and  conveniences  we  construct  them  of  the  least  valua- 
ble material  answering  the  purpose  for  which  they  are 
intended. 

The  monetary  measure  being  also  merely  a  tool  and 
convenience,  it,  like  other  measures,  ought  to  be  con- 
structed of  the  least  valuable  material  adapted  to  a 
monetary  use. 

These  propositions  find  substantial  support  in  the 
following  authorities: 

"Congress  shall  have  power  to  coin  money  and  regu- 
late the  value  thereof/'' — Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

"To  coin  money  and  regulate  the  value  thereof  as  an 
act  of  sovereignty  involves  the  right  to  determine  what 
pliall  be  taken  and  received  as  money;  at  what  measure 
or  price  it  shall  be  taken;  and  what  shall  be  its  ef- 
fect when  passed  or  tendered  in  payment  or  satisfac- 
tion of  legal  obligations.  Government  can  give  to  its 
stamp  upon  leather  the  same  money  value  as  if  put  up- 
on gold  or  silver  or  any  other  material.  The  authority 
which  coins  or  stamps  itself  upon  the  article  can  select 
what  substance  it  may  deem  suitable  to  receive  the  stamp 
and  pass  as  money;  and  it  can  affix  what  value  it  deems 
proper,  independent  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  sub- 
stance upon  which  it  is  affixed.  The  currency  value 
is  in  the  stamp,  when  used  as  money,  and  not  in  the 
material  independent  of  the  stamp.  In  other  words 
the  money  quality  is  the  authority  which  makes  it  cur- 
rent  and  gives  it  power  to  accomplish  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  created." — Tiffany,  Constitutional  Law. 

"Whatever  power  is  over  the  currency  is  vested  in 
Congress,  If  the  power  to  declare  what  is  money  is  not 


—  78  — 

in  Congress,  it  is  annihilated.  We  repeat,  money  is 
not  a  substance,  but  an  impression  of  legal  authority,  a 
printed  legal  decree." — United  States  Supreme  Court. 
(12  Wallace,  page  519). 

"Money  is  the  medium  of  exchange.  Whatever  per- 
forms the  function,  does  the  work,  is  money,  no  matter 
what  it  is  made  of/' — Walker,  Political  Economy. 

"It  is  right  that  money  should  acquire  a  value  as 
money  distinct  from  that  which  it  possesses  as  a  com- 
modity in  order  that  it  should  be  a  fixed  rule  whereby 
to  measure  the  value  of  all  other  things." — Robert 
Morris. 

"An  article  is  determined  to  be  money  by  reason  of 
the  performance  by  it  of  certain  functions,  without  re- 
gard to  its  form  or  substance/' — Appleton's  Encyclope- 
dia. 

"Money  is  a  value  created  by  law.  Its  basis  is  legal, 
and  jiot  material.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  easy  to  convince 
one  that  the  value  of  metallic  money  is  created  by  law. 
It  is,  however,  a  fact." — Cernuschi. 

Society  then  may  select  any  substance  it  may  deem 
suitable  on  which  to  impress  the  symbols,  emblems,  fig- 
ures and  phraseology  of  a  circulating  medium.  And  it 
logically  follows  that  if  it  may  select  a  substance  it 
deems  suitable  at  one  time  it  may  dispense  with  such  a 
substance  substituting  for  it  one  it  deems  more  suitable 
at  a  subsequent  period. 

Money  being  simply  a  tool,  there  is  no  reason  why, 
like  other  tools,  it  should  not  be  improved  upon.  W«' 
discard  a  tool  as  soon  as  we  discover  one  better  suited 
for  the  work  required.  Had  the  plowshare  not  been 
invented  we  might  still  be  turning  up  a  furrow  with  a 


-79- 

cronked  stick.  .Hut  notwithstanding  the 
into  which  plowshare?  liave  come,  crooked  sticks  are  still 
employed  in  some  localities  as  a  means  of  turning  up 
the  sod. 

So,  notwithstanding  we  still  continue  in  use  a  mone- 
tary measure  which  is  incapable  of  measuring  the  com- 
modity of  which  it  is  composed  because  of  being  joined 
to  it.  we  have,  by  impressing  the  money  stamp  upon  pa- 
per, created  an  improved  monetary  implement  capable 
of  measuring  even  the  occasional  appreciation  of  gold. 

We  are  rapidly  approaching  a  time  when  the  im- 
proved implement  will  serve  for  every  monetary  purpose. 

To  continue  to  impress  the  money  stamp  upon  a  val- 
uable commodity  when  a  paper  circulating  medium  will- 
perform  every  function  of  money,  is,  in  a  financial  sense, 
to  still  plow  with  a  crooked  stick  with  a  better  and  more 
perfect  implement  at  hand. 


SOCIETY.— XIII. 

MONEY  (Continued). 

It  is  probable  that  long  before  the  coinage  of  either 
gold  or  silver  into  monetary  tokens,  one  or  more  chief 
staples  of  exchange  such  as  cattle,  corn  and  sheep  be- 
came recognized  as  standards  of  value  by  the  various 
tribes  or  communities  that  existed  in  the  infancy  of  civ- 
ilization, and  that  the  staples  so  recognized  came  to 
measure  the  value  of  all  other  com  modi  ties  and  of  labor 
under  the  system  of  barter  then  in  vogue.  This  would 
be  the  process  of  establishing  values  that  would  natur- 
ally suggest  itself  to  a  society  making  use  of  but  the 
most  primitive  methods  of  exchange,  and  thus,  in  a  man- 
ner, controlling  commodities  became  invested  with  a 
money  quality  by  means  of  which  it  became  possible  to 
measure,  at  least  approximately,  the  value  of  objects  of 
exchange  in  general. 

Society  as  a  whole,  however,  had  no  concern  or  hand 
in  the  setting  up  of  such  measures  of  value.  They  were 
purely  commercial  measures,  yet,  to  a  certain  extent 
they  performed  a  monetary  function.  The  commodities 
which  measured  value  were  the  property  of  individuals 
and  therefore  were  purely  of  the  nature  of  individual 
money.  Monetary  tokens  to  be  stamped  by  society  were 
at  that  period  still  an  undreamed  of  discovery  of  the 

future,  and  the  more  cattle,  corn  or  sheep  that  indivi- 

80 


—  81  — 

duals  jH»K'»c(|,  (he  more  individual  money,  as  it  were, 
there  was  in  circulation. 

For  centuries  after  gold  and  silver  came  into  use 
they  were  exchanged  by  barter  like  other  commodities. 

The  impress  of  certain  symbols  or  hieroglyphics  up- 
on bars  or  ingots  of  these  metals  came  to  be  generally 
understood  as  designating  their  weight,  and  the  utility 
of  the  pieces  of  metal  so  stamped,  as  intermediate  fac- 
tors of  exchange,  was  soon  recognized. 

From  this  stage  it  was  but  a  short  step  to  the  im- 
pression of  a  fixed  monetary  value  upon  the  gold  and 
silver  pieces  in  circulation,  which  conformed  to  the 
value  in  which  they  had  been  generally  held. 

Such  impress  of  a  monetary  value,  however,  by  the 
nations  wras  merely  a  public  convenience  facilitating  ex- 
change under  the  system  of  barter  then  prevailing. 

Individuals  possessed  of  gold  or  silver  in  natural 
nuggets,  or  in  rings,  bracelets  or  other  ornaments  were 
privileged  to  present  them  at  the  king's  furnace  or  mint 
and  have  them  transformed  into  regular  tokens  with 
their  monetary  value  impressed  upon  them.  These 
pieces  of  metal  returned  to  those  who  presented  them 
for  mintage  remained  their  private  property,  so  that 
the  gold  and  silver  commodities  having  a  value  desig- 
nation impressed  upon  them  acquired  the  characteris- 
tics of  improved  individual  money. 

And  to  these  crude  methods  of  money  supply  com- 
ing down  to  us  from  ancient  times,  we,  in  these  days  of 
steam,  electricity  and  liquid  air,  with  hardly  a  change 
worth  mentioning,  still  adhere! 

Government  does  not  now  concern  itself  with  the 
supply  of  primary  money  except  to  affix  its  monetary 


-  82  — 

stamp  to  the1  miner's  gold  free  of  charge,  and  return  it 
to  liim  glistening  and  bright  in  minted  form,  and  no 
matter  how  much  gold  may  be  produced,  it  does  not  di- 
rectly benefit  government,  nor,  being  under  the  imme- 
diate control  of  the  producer,  does  it  give  equal  oppor- 
tunities to  all  citizens  industrially  inclined  to  share  in 
its  enjoyment  as  would  be  the  case  under  a  monetary 
system  of  a  collective  character.  Jt  is  individual  prop- 
erty with  the  stamp  of  government  allixed,  and  the  re- 
lations of  government  to  the  individual  and  to  this  par- 
ticular commodity  are  not  much  dissimilar  to  the  ne- 
lations  of  municipal  government  to  the  farmer  and  the 
load  of  hay  which,  conforming  to  law,  he  has  weighed 
upon  the  city  scales.  In  the  former  case,  the  money 
stamp  certifies  to  the  weight  and  fineness  of  the  metal 
in  the  coin.  In  the  latter  instance,  government  certi- 
fies in  writing  to  the  weight  of  the  hay,  and  these  for- 
malities over,  government  sends  both  individuals  forth 
to  realize  what  they  may  on  their  possessions.  The  only 
difference  is  that  the  commodity  of  one  producer  is 
changed  into  money  by  la\v,  while  that  of  the  other 
still  remains  a  commodity  without  special  favor. 

The  individual  character  of  coined  gold  becomes 
apparent  when  it  goes  to  a  premium.  At  such  a  time 
it  virtually  ceases  to  be  money,  and  is  bought  tind  sold 
at  a  price  agreed  upon  like  other  commodities. 

Justice  and  equity  require  that  a  circulating  me- 
dium shall  be  as  invariable  and  stable  a  tool  of  ex- 
change as  the  yard  stick  is  a  measure  of  length,  or  the 
bushel  measure  is  of  capacity. 

Coined  gold  no  longer  meets  these  requirements, 
for,  as  we  observe,  on-  occasions  when  above  all  others 
it  should  well  serve  us  as  a  circulating'medium  we  find 


—  83  — 

the  money  quality  upon  which,  we  depend,  destroyed. 
Shutting  its  eyes  to  the  crying  need  of  a  better  mone- 
tary system,  the  world  is  attempting  to  adjust  its  af- 
I'airs  on  a  tl actuating  commodity  basis,  with  gold,  the 
material  best  adapted  to  the  monetary  uses  of  cruder 
civilizations,  the  favorite  commodity. 

The  thing  to  do  is  to  strip  the  coined  gold  com- 
modity of  its  money  quality. 

Then  gold  will  stand  on  an  equal  footing  with  other 
commodities,  and  while  all  that  is  good  in  it  will  be  re- 
tained, its  power  for  evil  will  have  been  destroyed. 


SOCIETY.— XIV. 

MONEY— SILVER. 

It  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  for  several  years  after 
gaining  our  independence  the  founders  of  our  govern- 
ment made  practically  no  effort  whatever  to  provide 
an  American  circulating  medium  for  the  country. 

Out  of  the  silver  and  gold  coins  of  foreign  mintage 
which  constituted  the  bulk  of  the  money  of  commerce 
at  the  end  of  the  Revolutionary  War  we  adopted  the 
Spanish  silver  dollar  as  the  unit  of  our  money,  making 
it  the  lawful  dollar  and  standard,  This  was  in  1785, 
and  several  years  later  we  gave  a  legal  value  to  the  sil- 
ver dollars  of  Mexico,  Peru,  Chili  and  Central  America, 
and  the  five  franc  piece  of  France  so  that  they  also 
passed  current  as  lawful  money. 

In  1792  we  established  the  mint,*  and  enacted  a 
free  coinage  law  under  which  the  owners  of  gold  and 
silver  bullion  were  permitted  to  bring  the  same  to  the 
mint,  have  the  same  assayed  and  converted  into  coin, 


*Its  first  product  the  great  copper  cent  of  early  days 
constituted  in  i'ts  unpretentious  way  a  circulating  medium 
of  an  advanced  collective  character.  No  individual  was 
granted  the  privilege  of  having  the  copper  metal  of  which 
he  might  have  become  possessed  coined  into  pennies  on  his 
own  account.  Government  bought  the  material  of  which 
that  circulating  medium  was  composed  outright  just  as  it 
purchases  other  metallic  substances  for  purposes  of  sub- 
sidiary coinage  at  the  present  time. 

84 


—  85  — 

the  owner  receiving  coin  oi'  the  same  weight  as  the  bul- 
lion brought  to  the  mint. 

All  silver  dollars  coined  under  this  regulation  be- 
in  me  in  effect  individual  money  with  the  stamp  of  gov- 
ernment affixed,  but  the  declaration  of  the  administra- 
tion, made  in  recent  years,  that  it  will  maintain  the 
parity  of  the  silver  coinage  with  gold,  changes  their 
status  so  that  they  acquire  a  collective  character,  simi- 
lar to  that  which  silver  dollars,  minted  out  of  bullion 
purchased  by  government  since  the  discontinuance  of 
free  coinage  in  1873,  possess. 

Money  being  simply  a  monetary  tool  or  convenience 
there  may  occur  a  redundancy  of  a  bulky  circulating 
medium  notwithstanding  a  dearth  in  the  volume  of 
money  in  general  circulation,  such,  for  instance,  as 
would  be  brought  about  with  the  free  coinage  of  copper 
pennies,  and  it  has  at  least  been  claimed  that  in  com- 
mercial channels  the  tendency  in  recent  years  has  been 
toward  an  over  supply  of  a  silver  circulating  medium.* 

Society  should  have  full  control  over  whatever  cir- 
culating medium  it  employs  so  that  it  may  either  in- 
crease or  decrease  its  volume  at  will. 

\Yith  free  coinage  of  silver  discontinued,  society  ob- 
tains control  over  the  volume  of  silver  tokens  and  can 
prevent  a  possible  redundancy. 

Wlien  the  supply  of  silver  which  government  now 
holds  becomes  exhausted  it  will  purchase  silver  bullion 
for  currency  purposes  just  as  it  purchases  nickel  and 
copper  for  its  fractional  coins. 

On  the  whole,  the  discontinuance  of  its  free  coinage 


*The  working  people,  however,  receive  so  scant  a  wage 
that  they  are  never  overburdened  with  any  kind  of  money. 


—  86  — 

has  advanced  silver  well  along  toward  the  position  it 
will  eventually  assume  in  the  social  economy.  The  sup- 
ply of  silver  is  quite  sufficient  for  purposes  of  subsi- 
diary coinn^e.  It  is  only  when  we  depend  upon  it  for 
half  of  the  world's  supply  of  money  that  it  does  not 
and  can  not  meet  such  requirements. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  all  the  silver  produced  in  the 
world,  excepting  that  portion  used  in  the  arts  and  the 
industries,  is  now,  either  as  primary  or  secondary 
money,  put  to  a  monetary  use. 

It  is  unquestionably  true,  however,  that  wiping  out 
one-half  of  the  primary  money  of  the  world  has  given 
those  who  are  receiving  interest  upon  the  indebtedness 
of  the  nations  a  great  advantage  to  the  injury  of  the 
masses  everywhere.  But  we  can  rend  the  chain  of  gold 
that  binds  us  as  easily  as  if  it  were  a  spider's  thread 
if  we  but  make  the  effort. 

We  cannot  do  it,  however,  by  resuming  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  because  we  have  no  control  over  the 
money  of  foreign  countries.  Nor  for  that  matter  have 
they,  as  nations,  any  Say  as  to  what  form  of  money  we 
shall  adopt.  If  we  concluded  to  resume  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  (howr  suggestive  of  indivi- 
dual money  that  phrase),  turn  the  entire  issue  of 
money  over  to  bankers,  or  adopt  any  other  unprogres- 
sive  monetary  plan  to  our  injury,  we  could  unquestion- 
ably do  so  without  the  interference  or  consent  of  any 
nation  on  earth. 

But  the  commercial  world  docs  control  the  price  of 
commodities,  and  we  know  by  experience  that  we  can 
not  obtain  a  stable  circulating  medium  by  attaching 
the  money  stamp  to  a  valuable  commodity — that  the 
selling  price  of  the  commodity  of  which  the  coin  is 


—  87  — 

Composed  and  not  the  monetary  designation  upon  it 
will  control  its  value  in  exchange.  Besides,  it  ought  to 
he  clear  that  the  more  commodities  are  invested  with 
a  money  quality  the  more  friction  is  generated  and  the 
more  complicated  does  the  monetary  situation  become. 

The  passing  of  silver  began  with  its  demonetization 
by  Kngland  in  1816,  and  since  the  discontinuance  of  its 
free  coinage  in  the  United  States  in  1873  a  new  gener- 
ation has  been  born  and  has  grown  to  manhood's  es- 
tate. 

Its  world  mission  as  a  monetary  metal  nearly  ac- 
complished it  is  passing  like  the  wintry  snows  before 
the  balmy  and  rejuvenating  days  of  spring. 

It  is  destiny — it  is  evolution,  and  to  remonctize  the 
silver  commodity  would  be  indeed  to  turn  back  the 
hands  of  progress  upon  the  dial  of  time. 

It  was  right  and  proper  to  submit  to  the  people  di- 
rectly the  question  of  whether  or  not  the  free  coinage 
of  silver  at  the  mints,  at  its  former  ratio  with  gold, 
should  be  resumed — whether  the  action  of  our  repre- 
sentatives in  congress  in  discontinuing  the  coinage  of 
the  silver  dollar  should  or  should  not  be  upheld. 

Attention  was  directed  to  the  fact  that  the  people 
themselves  had  never  been  consulted  on  the  question, 
and  the  original  purpose  of  the  agitation  of  the  silver 
issue  was  accomplished  when  the  question  was  sub- 
mitted, after  ample  discussion,  to  the  decision  of  the 
American  people. 

The  appeal  to  the  country  was  made  and  lost.  The 
people  knew  that  things  were  not  as  they  should  be, 
but  they  instinctively  felt  that  the  remonetization  of 
silver  was  not  the  remedy. 

The  silver  issue  was  the  false  scaffolding  built  around 


the  new  monetary  structure  we  are  erecting.  It  has 
served  the  purpose  of  a  temporary  expedient  and  we  can 
now  dispense  with  its  use. 

The  real  mission  of  the  silver  issue  was  to  educate 
the  people  upon  the  money  question  in  general  and  the 
unfitness  of  gold  to  be  the  basis  of  a  monetary  system 
in  particular.  • 

The  lesson  has  come  home,  and  the  doom  of  gold 
as  a  monetary  metal  is  sealed.  Already  does  its  mone- 
tary designation  cling  to  it  as  loosely  as  do  their  tat- 
tered garments  to  the  tramps  which  it  has  made,  and 
when,  in  the  light  of  reason,  we  shall  come  to  see  the 
folly  of  retaining  in  use  any  form  of  individual  money 
as  a  circulating  medium,  its  reign  as  a  sovereign  in  the 
world  of  finance  will  draw  to  a  close. 


SOCIETY.— XV. 

BANKERS'  MONEY. 

% 

Xot  alone  did  the  founders  of  our  government  fail 
to  provide  an  improved  circulating  medium  for  the 
country,  but  in  adopting  the  individual  money  of  gold 
and  silver  miners  they  placed  the  source  of  the  money 
supply  entirely  out  of  national  control  and  made  it  im- 
possible for  government  to  increase  the  money  supply 
on  occasion  to  keep  pace  with  increase  in  population. 

The  scarcity  of  money  in  the  early  days  of  the  re- 
public was  however  easily  overcome. 

Patriots  willing  to  contribute  toward  increasing  the 
volume  of  currency  by  injecting  their  own  banknotes 
into  the  circulation  were  numerous,  and  when  legis- 
latures of  different  states  chartered  banking  corpor- 
ations with  power  of  issue,  another  form  of  individual 
money  sprang  into  existence. 

The  two  so-called  United  States  Banks,  whose  suc- 
cessive careers  covered  a  period  of  fifty  years  extending 
from  1791  to  1841,  were,  like  the  state  banks,  privately 
managed  corporations.  The  note  issues  of  both  species 
were  purely  a  form  of  individual  money.  The  only 
organic  difference  between  them  was  that  while  the 
latter  species  were  chartered  by  state  legislatures  the 
former  were  chartered  by  the  general  government.  Ill 
1857  congress  demonetized  all  foreign  coins  which  up 

1<>  ihat  laic  day  had  been  circulating  in  the  country 

89 


—  90  — 

as  lawful  money  at  a  fixed  valuation.  This  piece  of 
legislation  which  transformed  the  bulk  of  the  bank 
reserves  from  a  species  of  individual  money  into  a  non- 
legal  -tender  commodity  was  the  chief  cause  of  the 
financial  panic  of  that  year  which  swept  the  majority 
of  the  wildcat  banks,  as  the  institutions  chartered  by 
state  legislatures  were  called,  out  of  existence. 

State  banks,  however,  continued  operations  until 
after  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  when  govern- 
ment imposed  a  ten  per  cent  tax  on  their  circulation 
which  put  a  quietus  upon  all  institutions  of  that  char- 
acter. 

Mention  of  the  national  bank  currency  brings  the 
review  of  the  several  forms  of  banker's  money  in  our 
financial  history  down  to  date. 

•  It  would  seem  as  if  the  great  volume  of  treasury  pa- 
per which  was  certain  to  be  required  and  issued  on  ac- 
count of  the  Civil  War  would  have  made  a  requisition 
upon  bankers  to  supply  the  nation  with  a  circulating 
medium  quite  unnecessary.  However,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  confusion  of  war  times,  the  banking  frater- 
nity once  again  managed  to  inject  a  credit  form  of  in- 
dividual money  into  the  circulation. 

No  wild  cat  banker  enjoyed  the  sinecure  which 
those  who  organize  national  banks  obtain. 

The  former  did  business  entirely  on  his  own  capi- 
tal. The  latter  has  the  entire  volume  of  his  paper  cir- 
culation loaned  to  him  practically  without  cost,  by  the 
nation,  and  he  may  use  it  as  long  as  he  chooses  to  re- 
main in  business.  To  illustrate.  An  individual,  say, 
has  accumulated  $100,000,  which  he  invests  in  gov- 
ernment bonds  bearing  five  per  cent  per  annum  inter- 


est.*  This  would  yield  him  $5,000  a  year,  a  sum  which 
would  enable  him  to  live  retired  and  at  ease  for  the 
remainder  of  his  days. 

But  such  an  individual  concludes  to  secure  for  him- 
self the  additional  advantages  which  the  national  bank- 
ing act  offers  to  capitalists,  and  distributing  a  few  shares 
of  stock  among  friends  so  as  to  comply  with  the  law  re- 
quiring a  certain  number  of  persons  to  be  associated 
in  such  an  enterprise,  he  incorporates  a  bank. 

He  deposits  his  bonds  with  government  and  receives 
back  $90,000,  in  money  of  the  $100,000  which  he  orig- 
inally paid  for  the  bonds,  and  this  money  he  loans  and 
reloans  to  the  people  at  an  interest  charge.  And  lie 
continues  to  receive  $5,000  a  year  interest  on  his  bonds 
just  as  though  he  had  not  been  set  up  in  the  banking 
business  by  government,  and  been  loaned  $90,000 
working  capital! 

The  National  Bank  Act  introduced  in  the  senate 
by  John  Sherman  was  passed  February  25,  18G3. 

Let  us  assume  the  average  of  national  bank  cur- 
rency in  circulation  for  thirty-five  years  to  have  been 
$200,000,000.*  At  ten  per  cent  per  annum  increase 
money  doubles  itself  in  ten  years,  so  that  at  simple  in- 
terest the  two  hundred  millions  which  society  has 
loaned  to  national  bankers  during  these  years,  at  the 
expense  and  loss  of  the  remainder  of  the  population, 


*Government  paid  as  much  as  seven  per  cent,  on  some 
•of  its  bond  issues. 

*According  to  a  report  of  the  Comptroller  of  the  Cur- 
rency the  circulation  of  2,714  national  banks  on  October  1, 
1885,  was  $269,000,000,  and  of  3,676  national  banks  on  Octo- 
ber 6,  1896,  eleven  years  later,  $209,000,000. 


—  92  — 

might  and  undoubtedly  has  earned  them  the  enormous 
sum  of  seven  hundred  million  dollars! 

In  view  of  these  facts  we  can  not  but  conclude  that 
the  national  banking  system  is  indeed  the  best  banking 
system  on  earth — for  those  who  engage  in  it. 

Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under 
Lincoln  said  of  it: 

"My  agency  in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  Na- 
tional Banking  Act,  was  the  greatest  financial  mistake 
of  my  life.  It  has  built  up  a  monopoly  that  affects  every 
interest  in  the  country.  It  should  be  repealed.  But 
before  this  can  be  accomplished  the  people  will  be  ar- 
rayed on  one  side  and  the  banks  on  the  other  in  such 
a  contest  as  we  have  never  seen  in  this  country." 

The  struggle  with  the  money  power  which  Salmon 
P.  Chase  predicted  is  immediately  before  us,  and  can 
not  but  eventually  result  in  its  utter  annihilation. 


SOCIETY.— XVI. 
MONEY— BANKS— SAVINGS  FUNDS. 

A  banker  is  just  a  plain,  ordinary  every-day  citizen 
who  has  money  to  loan.  And  if  it  be  other  people's 
money  rather  than  his  own,  which  usually  is  the  case, 
BO  much  the  better — for  the  banker. 

We  are  apt  to  lose  sight  of  these  facts  amidst  the 
(•levant  appointments  of  the  counting  room,  but  we  are 
reminded  of  them,  when,  every  now  and  then,  the  doors 
of  gome  supposedly  substantial  bank  close,  and  but  a 
few  paltry  dollars  remain  in  its  money  vaults  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  a  host  of  depositors  as  souvenirs  of  the 
beauties  of  modern  banking, 

Commercial  banking  is  essentially  a  competitive 
pursuit.  Its  main  characteristic  is  taking  increase  for 
the  use  of  a  tool,  and  is  not  a  vocation  in  which  the 
people  collectively  ought  to  engage. 

Were  all  banks  abolished  to-morrow,  those  wanting 
to  borrow  money  would  be  compelled  to  seek  out  indi- 
viduals in  the  community  who  have  money  to  loan,  so 
that  as  long  as  we  continue  competitive  methods  of  do- 
ing business,  the  sign  "Bank,"  by  which  these  gentle- 
men make  their  whereabouts  known,  is  really  a  con- 
venience. 

Such  concerns  would  be  designated  banks  of  loan 

and  discount,  their  proprietors  would  do  business  on 

93 


-  94  — 

their  own  capital,  and  in  case  of  failure  which  could 
only  occur  through  injudicious  loans,  or  speculation 
outside  of  legitimate  banking,  no  one  but  themselves 
would  be  at  a  loss.  JUit,  as  part  of  the  competitive 
commercial  methods  which  society  has  sanctioned  in  the 
past,  the  moneys  of  the  people  finds  its  way  into  cor- 
porate savings  banks  and  other  privately  owned  finan- 
cial institutions  for  safe  keeping,  and  it  is  a  notorious 
fact  that  for  the  return  of  such  funds  depositors  re- 
ceive no  guaranteed  security  whatever.  The  receiving 
of  the  people's  money  on  deposit  for  safe  keeping  is  a 
department  entirely  separate  and  distinct  from  the 
loan  and  discount  features  of  banking,  and  is  a  func- 
tion which  absolutely  can  not  be  satisfactorily  per- 
formed by  any  individual  or  private  corporation  be- 
cause banks  reloan  these  funds  for  fixed  periods,  and 
it  therefore  becomes  impossible  for  them  to  carry  out 
their  implied  agreement  to  repay  depositors  on  demand 
whenever  a  considerable  percentage  of  them,  in  times 
of  financial  excitement  or  otherwise,  call  •  for  their 
deposits.* 

There  was  a  time  when  government  kept  strictly 
aloof  from  any  interference  in  the  providing  of  ex- 
change in  any  form  for  the  convenience  of  the  public. 
Even  the  forwarding  of  small  sums  of  money  to  distant 
points  was  considered  entirely  within  the  province  of 
banking  concerns,  express  companies,  and  other  pur- 
suits carried  on  by  private  enterprise.  Then  the 


*During  a  recent  bank  panic,  a  western  concern  which 
suspended,  hung  a  placard  in  its  window  containing  the  in- 
formation that:  "This  bank  is  closed.  It  is  impossible  for 
any  bank  to  do  business  when  all  of  its  depositors  demand 
their  money  at  one  and  the  same  time." 


—  95  — 

postal  money  order  system  was  established  by  govern- 
ment, which  even  now  is  being  utilized  by  a  portion 
of  the  population  as  a  plaee  of  safe  deposit  for  savings 
funds.*  And,  judging  from  the  general  demand  that 
the  powers  of  government  in  this  regard  be  extended, 
it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  before  long  a  general 
savings  department  will  be  incorporated  as  part  of  the; 
postal  money  order  system.* 

Should  this  be  done,  it  will  be  in  order  for  govern- 
ment to  impose  such  conditions  on  the  now  existing 
wild  cat  savings  banks  of  the  country  as  will  compel 
thc'm,  like  the  wildcatters  of  other  days,  to  discontinue 
business.  The  function  of  caring  for  the  people's  sav- 
ings should  be  exercised  exclusively  by  government. 

And  at  this  late  clay  we  still  permit  banking  cor- 
porations to  share  with  government  the  sovereign  right 
to  issue  money!  It  almost  seems  as  if  the  wildcats,  like 
some  specimens  of  the  feline  species  in  the  flesh,  have 
nine  lives. 

We  imposed  a  ten  per  cent,  tax  on  their  circulation, 
when  they  metamorphosed  into  national  banks,  and  in- 
>tead  of  being  taxed  excessively  on  circulation,  as  has 
been  remarked  in  the  preceding  chapter,  we  loan  them 
the  capital,  with  which  they  xlo  business! 


*From  the  report  of  the  second  assistant  postmaster  gen- 
eral it  appeared  that  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1897,  nearly  $8,000,000,  received  for  money  orders  remained 
uncalled  for  in  the  hands  of  the  department.  Though  in- 
tended for  no  such  uses  the  money  order  department  was 
to  that  extent  utilized  as  a  place  of  safe  deposit. 

*Since  the  above  was  written,  such  a  system,  amounting 
virtually  to  a  chain  of  government  savings  banks,  has  been 
established. 


—  96  — 

Jji  the  not  overly  elegant  vernacular  oi'  the  street, 
we  are  great  chumps! 

15 ut  nevertheless,  the  day  of  individual  money,  both 
gold  miner's  and  banker's,  and  the  day  of  the  privately 
owned  savings  bank  will  soon  come  to  an  end.  Grad- 
ually collective  money  is  developing,  and  must  event- 
ually crowd  out  of  the  monetary  field  the  last  votig'- 
of  individual  money.  It  is  simply  a  question  ol'  time, 
and  that  not  far  off  from  all  indications. 

A  test  of  whether  certain  moneys  are  of  a  collective, 
or  of  an  individual  character  may  be  found  in  a  reflec- 
tion upon  who  gains  by  its  destruction. 

Suppose  that  $2, <><)<),  half  composed  of  gold  coin, 
and  half  of  treasury  notes  of  government,  goes  down 
with  a  steamer  to  the  bottom  of  Lake  Michigan. 

In  the  case  of  the  gold  coin,  which  is  individual 
money,  no  one  would  be  the  gainer,  whilst  in  the  case 
of  the  treasury  notes,  which  are  collective  money,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  they  are  redeemable  in  gold 
coin,  the  nation  would  be  the  gainer. 

Let  $1,000  in  national  bank  notes,  which  are  in- 
dividual money,  be  consumed  in  a  conflagration,  and  the 
nation  is  none  the  gainer.  The  individuals  who  are 
permitted  to  perform  a  government  function  in  issu- 
ing such  money  gain  however  just  as  they  do  when, 
through  the  death  or  disappearance  of  those  who 
deposit  it,  money  deposited  with  them  for  safe  keeping 
remains  uncalled  for. 

The  nation  should  in  all  cases  gain  by  the  destruc- 
tion or  loss  of  money  which  it  is  impracticable  to  re- 
place, and  also  by  the  moneys  upon  deposit  which  re- 
mains uncalled  for. 


—  97  — 


This  would  be  the  case  were  there  no  o'her  than 
collective  money  in  circulation,  and  were  the  receiv- 
ing of  the  moneys  of  the  people  on  deposit  made,  as 
it  should  be,  an  exclusive  function  of  government. 


SOCIETY.— XVII. 
MONEY— CREDIT-REDEMPTION. 

^  The  use  of  coined  gold  is  in  reality  merely  part  and 
parcel  of  the  ancient  system  of  barter.  When  we  pur- 
chase any  material  thing  with  gold  coin  we  simply  ex- 
change commodity  for  commodity.  No  element  of 
credit  whatever  attaches  itself  to  such  a  transaction. 

Credit  has  been  utilized  in  various  forms  from 
times  immemorial,  and  it  is  a  singularly  striking  fact 
that,  outside  of  material  things,  it  is  the  only  economic 
element  which,  like  coined  gold,  can  hold  wealth  in 
abe}rance  so  that  we  may  not  be  compelled  to  purchase 
the  necessaries  or  comforts  of  life  until  needed  for  use. 
An  employe  of  a  great  department  store  might,  for  ex- 
ample, say  to  the  proprietor  who  tenders  him  fifty  dol- 
lars in  gold  coin  for  his  month's  services:  ''This 
money  is  bulky  and  inconvenient  to  carry  about,  and 
I  have  no  confidence  in  banks.  I  will  soon  need  a 
number  of  things  that  will  about  equal  its  amount  in 
cost  which  I  can  purchase  out  of  stock  so  that  it  will 
suit  me  just  as  well  if  you  will  let  the  amount  remain 
to  my  credit  on  the  books."  With  subsequent  purchase 
of  the  things  he  needs  the  credit  would  be  cancelled  by 
an  off-set. 

If  we  reflect  upon  that  transaction  \ve  observe  that 
if  this  credit  had  been  evidenced  by  a  due  bill  on  the 

store,  it  might  through  its  transfer  to  a  third  person, 

98 


—  99  — 

by  him  to  another,  and  so  or.,  be  made  to  serve  the  pur- 
pose of  a  circulating  medium,  and  the  liquidation  of  the 
indebtedness  which  it  represented  would  have  amount- 
ed to  its  redemption.  In  these  exchanges  the  use  of  gold 
coin  would,  as  we  have  seen,  be  entirely  dispensed  with. 

The  use  of  credit,  however,  oui  of  which  to  con- 
struct a  circulating  medium,  and  a  provision  for  its 
redemption,  go  hand  in  hand. 

But  redemption  in  its  broadest  sense  is  neverthe- 
less nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  process  of  liquidation 
or  cancellation  of  indebtedness,  which  can  be  brought 
about  in  various  ways  other  than  by  the  payment  of 
money. 

Moreover,  indebtedness  can  be  cancelled  or  liqui- 
dated by  the  off-set  of  things  both  tangible  and  intan- 
gible. 

Thus  if  one  holds  the  obligation  of  a  baker  calling 
for  the  payment  of  a  dollar  it  is  possible  to  liquidate 
that  obligation  by  the  delivery  of  an  equivalent  in 
bread.  If  one  held  the  obligation  of  a  theatrical  man- 
ager for  a  similar  amount  it  might  find  redemption  in 
a  ticket  of  admission  to  the  opera.  A  landlord  might 
redeem  his  due  bills  in  house  rent,  and  so  on.  Such 
cancellation  of  indebtedness  if  arranged  for  beforehand 
might  be  correctly  designated  as  specific  redemption. 

The  great  Plato  maintained  that  "the  state  is  but 
the  individual  on  a  larger  scale,  the  individual  is  but  a 
miniature  state,"  and  in  nothing  to  which  it  may  be 
applied  does  the  soundness  of  that  philosophy  become 
more  apparent  than  in  the  respective  use  of  their 
credit  by  nations  and  individuals,  and  in  the  smu- 


—  100  — 

larity  of  the  manner  in  which  they  redeem  their  obli- 
gations. 

All  nations  make  more  or  less  use  of  their  credit, 
and  their  obligations  find  redemption  in  a  number  of 
ways  other  than  by  liquidation  through  the  payment 
of  coined  gold. 

An  early  application  of  the  principle  of  specific  re- 
demption in  connection  with  the  use  of  the  public 
credit  as  the  base  of  a  circulating  medium  was  made 
in  the  construction  of  the  Guernsey  market  house,  an 
incident  which  has  become  famous  as  an  advance  in 
monetary  science. 

The  citizens  of  the  parish  of  St.  Peter,  Island  of 
Guernsey,  at  a  town  meeting  resolved  upon  the  erection 
of  a  market  house  in  the  borough,  and  intimated  to 
Governor  De  L'Isle  IJrock  by  petition  their  desire  thai 
he  issue  "interest  bearing  bonds  to  be  negotiated  iu 
Paris  or  London  for  money  wherewith  to  erect  the 
building.  The  committee  of  freeholders  who  present- 
ed this  petition  found  no  difficulty  in  convincing  the 
governor  that  the  enterprise  would  be  a  paying  invest- 
ment, as  the  rent  income  from  market  stalls  would  in  a 
series  of  years  fully  repay  the  outlay  for  the  building. 
The  governor,  however,  was  not  a  conservative  fossil, 
and  determined  on  making  an  innovation  which,  be- 
side serving  as  a  valuable  lesson  in  finance,  would  save 
the  interest  on  the  cost  of  the  market  house  to  the 
towns-people. 

Instead  of  negotiating  interest  bearing  bonds,  he 
issued  currency  scrip  for  twenty-two  thousand  dollars 
the  estimated  cost  of  the  building. 

This  currency  in  bills  of  various  denominations  was 
made  receivable  at  par  with  legal  tender  money  for 


—  101  — 

rent  of  the  stalls,  and  was  paid  out  to  the  mechanics 
who  erected  the  building,  and  for  rock,  lumber,  brick, 
lime  and  other  needed  material  as  the  work  progressed. 

it  circulated  in  the  island  at  par.  Every  month's 
rent  reduced  its  quantity  and  in  less  than  ten  years 
all  was  back  in  the  treasury  and  marked  "cancelled." 
Tlie  house  had  been  built  and  paid  for  without  resort 
to  interest  bearing  bonds  or  the  use  of  other  money 
than  the  governor's  currency  as  a  means  for  its  con- 
struction. 

To  impress  the  incident  vividly  on  the  minds  of  the 
people  and  commemorate  it  for  the  benefit  of  future 
generations,  the  governor  appointed  a  special  day  to 
celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  building  of  the  market 
house. 

When  it  came  around,  a  bonfire  was  built  in  the 
main  thoroughfare,  and  after  an  address  by  the  gov- 
ernor in  which  he  enlarged  upon  the  benefits  which  a 
community  derives  through  the  use  of  its  credit,  when- 
ever practicable,  as  the  base  of  a  circulating  medium, 
the  currency  which  had  so  well  served  its  purpose  was 
publicly  destro}^ed. 

If  we  analyze  that  currency  we  find  that  it  con- 
n-ted of  the  public  credit  in  circulation,  and  that  the 
bills  of  various  denominations  were  small  separate 
divisions  or  portions  of  its  aggregate  volume.  We 
full  her  ol»>erve  that  the  income  from  the  rent  of  mar- 
ket stalls  constituted  the  one  specific  resource  which 
made  its  complete  scientific  redemption  possible,  the 
public  credit  carrying  the  venture  until  this  resource 
became  available. 

And  long  before  the  birth  of  our  republic,  while 
Vet'  the  America]]  colonies  were  dependencies  of 


-  102  — 

England,  various  states  issued  a  considerable  volume 
of  legal  tender  currency  not  redeemable  in  coin,  which 
was  put  -into  circulation  through  loans  to  the  people 
on  land  and  other  securities. 

These  currency  issues  were  made  receivable  for 
taxes  due  the  state,  which  constituted  the  only  specific 
source  of  redemption  available  in  those  days. 

The  State  of  Pennsylvania  continued  a  volume  of 
$400,000  of  such  currency  in  circulation  for  thirty 
years  until  it  was  prohibited  by  the  home  government 
in  1775. 

The  money  power  of  England  was,  of  course,  greatly 
displeased  with  a  currency  which  was  rapidly  placing 
the  finances  of  the  colonies  beyond  its  control,  and 
through  its  influence  the  use  of  such  a  circulating 
medium  was  interdicted  by  the  English  government. 
It  is  a  historical  fact  that  the  supression  of  the  Colonial 
currency,  particularly  that  of  Pennsylvania,  contri- 
buted more  than  any  other  cause  toward  arousing  that 
spirit  of  resistance  to  external  interference  which  cul- 
minated in  the  war  of  the  revolution. 

This  was  but  natural  considering  that  it  had  proved 
in  every  way  an  unqualified  success. 

Benjamin  Kranklin  defending  the  Pennsylvania 
colonial  paper  money  before  a  committee  of  the 
English  Parliament  in  1TG4,  said:  "On  the  whole  no 
method  has  hitherto  been  found  to  establish  a  'medium 
of  trade,  in  lieu  of  coin,  equal  in  all  its  advantages  to 
bills  of  credit  founded  on  sufficient  taxes  for  discharg- 
ing it  at  the  end  of  the  time,  and  in  the  meantime 
made  a  general  legal  tender." 

In  volume  4,  page  85,  of  his  works,  the  same  author- 
ity says:  '"'Gold  and  silver  are  not  intrinsically  of 


—  103  — 

value  with  iron.  'Their  value  rests  chiefly  on  the 
e-teein  they  happen  to  be  in  among  the  generality  of 
nations.  Any  other  well  founded  credit  is  as  much  an 
equivalent  as  gold  and  silver.  Paper  money,  well 
founded,  has  great  advantages  over  gold  and  silver, 
being  light  and  convenient  for  handling  large  sums, 
and  not  likely  to  have  its  volume  reduced  by  demands 
Tor  exportation." 

In  this  declaration  that  "any  other  well  founded 
< -red it  is  as  much  an  equivalent  as  gold  and  silver"  the 
philosopher-statesman  enunciated  the  true  theory  of 
redemption,  which  is  simply  the  cancellation  of  in- 
debtedness. And  it  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was  then  that 
"paper  money,  well  founded,  has  great  advantages  over 
gold  and  silver,  being  light  and  convenient  for  hand- 
ling large  sums,  and  not  likely  to  have  its  volume  re- 
duced by  demands  for  exportation." 

The  importance  of  the  specific  source  of  redemp- 
tion of  currency  through  its  receipt  for  taxes  was  real- 
i/ed  as  well  by  another  of  the  great  founders  of  Ameri- 
can democracy. 

Kef  erring  to  this  resource  Thomas  Jefferson  in  his 
letter  to  Mr.  Epps  said: 

"11  is  the  only  resource  which  can  never  fail  them, 
and  it  is  an  abundant  one  for  every  necessary  purpose. 
Treasury  bills,  bottomed  on  taxes,  bearing  or  not  bear- 
ing interest  as  may  be  found  necessary,  thrown  into 
circulation,  will  take  the  place  of  so  much  gold  and 
silver." 

Such  a  currency  issued  by  the  states  at  various 
times  for  nearly  a  century  did  never  fail  them,  was  an 
abundant  one  for  every  purpose,  and  would  have  re- 
mained so  had  not  the  revolution  brought  about  a 


—  104  — 

change    in    government    under  which  the  states  were 
not  permitted  to  issue  money. 

But  it  had  been  demonstrated  that  government 
might  with  unqualified  success  put  the  public  credit 
into  circulation  by  means  of  a  paper  currency  redeem- 
able in  a  certain  specified  resource  other  than  the  gold 
commodity  in  minted  form. 


SOCIETY.— XVIII. 
MONEY-COLLECTIVE  CURRENCY. 

A  proviso  of  the  Constitution  empowers  Congress 
to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States. 

In  accordance  with  that  provision  Congress  has 
made  liberal  use  of  the  public  credit  to  replenish  the 
treasury  from  the  very  beginning.  To  that  end  it  has 
issued  both  interest  bearing  and  non-interest  bearing 
treasury  obligations,  and  has  tided  over  emergencies  in 
this  manner  at  short  intervals  throughout  our  entire 
career  as  a  nation. 

I»ut  again,  "the  state  is  but  the  individual  on  a 
larger  scale."  An  individual  makes  the  best  possible 
use  of  his  credit. 

So  ought  the  state.  If  it  can  borrow  money  at  six 
per  cent  it  is  not  justified  in  paying  ten.  If  its  credit 
improves  and  it  can  refund  its  outstanding  indebted- 
ness at  a  lower  rate  than  three  per  cent  there  is  no 
good  reason  why  it  should  not  do  so. 

And  if  it  gain  in  power  and  strength  so  that  in  the 
fullness  of  its  prime  it  becomes  possible  for  it  to  dif- 
fuse its  credit,  by  means  of  a  paper  circulating  me- 
dium, among  its  own  people  so  that  it  may  not  be  com- 
pelled to  call  for  external  aid,  such  would  be  an  en- 
tirely rational  and  proper  course  for  it  to  pursue. 

Like  an  individual  the  state  is  weak  and  unable  to 

do  but  little  for  itself  in  its  infancy,  and  like  an  infant 

105 


—  106  — 

it  falls  down  repeatedly,  so  far  as  its  financial  strength 
is  concerned.  Before  it  is  able  to  stand  upright. 

The  currency  of  the  Continental  Congress  earned, 
the  war  of  the  revolution  to  a  successful  issue.  Bui, 
unlike  the  currency  of  the  American  colonies  which 
had  been  made  redeemable  in  a  specific  resource  other 
(ban  coin,  the  currency  issued  by  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment of  the  federated  states  was  made  redeemable 
in  metallic  money.  Government  did  not  possess  the 
individual  money — the  gold  and  silver  coin — for  its  re- 
demption, and  because  of  this  and  other  unfavorable 
conditions  the  entire  volume  of  currency  was  event- 
ually repudiated.* 

Coin  is  also  a  specific  source  of  redemption,  but  as 
long  as  we  arrange  so  that  bankers  become  the  sole 
judges  of  the  soundness  of  the  public  credit  only  a  lim- 
ited volume  of  paper  can  ever  be  floated  redeemable 
even  in  coin. 

Scanning  the  pages  of  American  financial  history 
we  find  that  the  first  volume  of  non-interest  bearing 
collective  currency  issued  by  the  permanent  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  was  put  into  circulation  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  war  with  England  in  1815. 

Other  issues  made  during  the  three  preceding  years 


*A  number  of  things  contributed  to  the  annihilation  of 
the  currency  of  the  Continental  Congress.  The  currency  in 
the  first  place  was  not  issued  by  a  stable  government  but 
by  a  section  of  a  nation  striving  for  independence.  There 
was  no  certainty  that  the  revolt  would  succeed.  At  times 
it  seemed  as  if  the  effort -would  certainly  prove  a.  failure. 
The  currency  was  crude,  easily  counterfeited,  and  when, 
through  the  machinations  of  the  money  power,  it  was 
stripped  of  its  legal  'tender  quality,  which  in  effect  was  a 
disclaim  of  its  being  money  by  the  power  that  issued  it, 
it  became  utterly  worthless. 


-  io7  - 

of  the  war  bore  interest,  and  the  fact  that  government 
had  dared  to  put  a  volume  of  non-interest  bearing 
treasury  bills  into  circulation  aroused  the  indignation 
of  all  the  banks  in  the  country.* 

Pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  Congress  by  the, 
banking  combine  which  resulted  in  the  repeal  of  the 
law  authorizing  the  re-issue  of  this  currency,  and  with 
the  charter  of  the  second  United  States  Bank  power 
to  issue  a  paper  circulating  medium  was  relinquished 
to  this  and  other  banking  corporations  for  the  private 
gain  of  individuals. 

The  state  was  weak  and  could  not  carry  out  its  orig- 
inal purpose.  On  the  other  hand,  the  money  power  had 
proved  itself  stronger  than  the  nation. 

And  this  banking  monster,  like  an  insatiable  vam- 
pire, is  still  draining  away  the  life  blood  of  the  nation 
at  its  very  source. 

Interest  bearing  treasury  notes  were  issued  at 
various  times  during  the  financial  panics  of  1837-184^, 
once  to  carry  on  the  war  with  Mexico  in  1847,  and 
again  to  tide  over  the  financial  convulsion  of  1857. 

And  then  came  the  non-interest  bearing  notes  of 
the  Civil  War,  346  millions  of  which  have  been  re-issued 
and  are  still  in  circulation. 

This  collective  government  currency  is  the  most 
popular  money  in  use,  and  when  we  look  upon  a  treas- 
ury note  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  when  the  premium 
on  gold  was  at  its  highest  during  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion, fifty  dollars  and  over  in  just  such  treasury  bills, 

*The  issues  referred  to  were:  June  o,  1812,  $5,000,000; 
February  25.  1813.  $10,000.000;  March  4, 1814,  $10,000,000; 
March  4,  1814,  $10,000,000;  December  26, 1814,  $25,000,000; 
ami  February  14,  1815,  $25,000,000. 


—  108  — 

which  government  pledged  itself  to  redeem  in  coin  on 
demand,  were  freely  given  in  exchange  i'oi-  twenty  dol- 
lars of  the  same  kind  of  coin  in  which  that  treasury 
paper  was  redeemable. 

Yet  such  was  the  fact. 

As  was  remarked,  gold  could  not  have  gone  to  a 
premium  without  the  presence  of  a  monetary  measure 
capable  of  measuring  the  artificial  value  of  the  gold 
commodity.  The  money  stamp  impressed  upon  the 
greenback  supplied  such  a  measure,  and  two  conflicting 
monetary  standards  in  use  at  one  and  the  same  time 
naturally  tended  to  complicate  the  monetary  situation 
and  embarrass  government. 

The  following  discourse  never  took  place;  yet  the 
situation  was  actually  reproduced  on  a  many  times  en- 
larged scale,  and  illustrates  how  redeeming  collective 
money  in  individual  money  operates  on  occasion. 

Treasury  official  to  battle-scarred  veteran: 

"No,  sir.  We  do  not  pay  your  arrears  in  gold. 
Gold  is  a  commodity  with  no  fixed  value.  It  is  now 
worth  $2.80.  You  might  as  well  ask  us  to  give  you 
$2.80  in  flour  or  potatoes  for  every  dollar  government 
owes  you  as  to  ask  us  for  payment  in  gold.  This  cur- 
rency is  now  the  only  money  in  circulation — the  only 
money  in  the  land.  It  will  procure  you  anything  you 
desire  to  purchase  at  a  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar. 
It  is  good  money." 

The  veteran  takes  his  departure  and  a  banker,  who 
has  listened  to  the  conversation  while  awaiting  his 
turn,  now  throws  down  a  bundle  of  greenbacks  before 
the  same  official  with  the  remark,  "Redeem  these, 
please." 

"But,  iny  dear  sir,  you  bankers  have  made  gold  a 


—  109  — 

commodity  and    have    raised    its    value.     Besides    we 
)ia\rii't  the  coin  on  hand." 

"What  if  it  is  a  commodity,"  the  other  replies,  "if 
government  had  agreed  to  redeem  this  paper  in  flour  at 
a  dollar  a  hundred  pounds  and  flour  went  up  to  $2.80 
per  100,  government  would  be  at  the  loss,  that's  all. 
If  you  haven't  the  coin  it  does  not  matter;  an  interest 
bearing  bond  will  do  as  well/' 

And  the  bond,  which  had  been  specially  prepared 
for  such  occasions,  was  forthcoming.* 

Now,  the  information  imparted  to  the  old  soldier 
was  entirely  correct,  and  yet  the  very  next  financial 
transaction  was  guaged  by  a  conflicting  monetary 
standard. 

Had  it  been  possible  to  demonetize  gold  at  that 
period  the  banking  fraternity  could  not  have  pro- 
cured $2.80  worth  of  any  commodity  for  a  single  dol- 
lar in  money. 

But  it  was  not  practicable  to  demonetize  gold  at 
that  time.  A  war  period,  when  the  public  credit  is  at 
its  greatest  strain,  is  not  the  proper  time  to  inaugurate 


*The  following  letter  to  Congressman  Gaines  (Tennes- 
see) bears  directly  on  this  point: 

Department  of  State,  Washington,  Feb.  7,  1898. 
Hon.  John  W.  Gaines: 

Dear  Sir — Your  note  of  this  date  is  received.  You  ask 
me  whether,  during  our  Civil  War,  the  bonds  of  the  United 
States  were  paid  for  in  United  States  notes,  commonly 
called  greenbacks. 

During  our  entire  Civil  War  we  received  United  States 
notes  in  payment  for  bonds.  The  interest  on  the  notes  was 
paid  in  coin  and  to  enable  the  treasury  to  do  this  the  duties 
on  imports  were  made  payable  in  coin. 

Very  Truly  Yours, 

JOHN  SHERMAN, 


—  110  - 

currency  reform.     This   can  best  be   done  when  the 
country  is  at  peace. 

The  fact  remains,  however,  that  if  even  a  single 
treasury  note  of  the  millions  of  "greenbacks"  issued 
during  the  civil  war  could  have  found  redemption  in  a 
resource  of  government  other  than  metallic  money, 
such  a  note  could  not  be  properly  aligned  as  redeem- 
able exclusively  in  coin. 

Suppose  for  example  that  John  Jacob  Astor  had 
turned  a  $10,000  greenback  into  the  treasury  in  pay- 
ment of  his  income  tax,  that  bill'  would  certainly  have 
found  perfect  and  complete  redemption. 

And  inasmuch  as  any  particular  note  or  bill  might 
have  found  perfect  redemption  when  returned  into  the 
treasury  in  liquidation  of  the  income  tax;  in  the  pay- 
ment of  revenues  and  customs;  by  the  individuals  and 
firms  on  whom  was  levied  a  special  tax  for  the  privilege 
of  carrying  on  their  vocations;  through  its  receipt  in 
payment  for  public  lands,  and  through  its  receipt  in 
payment  for  either  postage  or  revenue  stamps,  it  fol- 
lows by  a  sound  and  logical  process  of  reasoning  that 
the  entire  volume  of  war  greenbacks  were  not  redeem- 
able exclusively  in  coin,  but  in  other  available  resources 
of  the  nation,  not  specified,  as  well.* 

In  fact,  were  we  to  retire  the  treasury  notes  now 
in  circulation  as  is  being  urged  by  banking  interests 
we  would  be  discarding  a  collective  currency  a  gront 
portion  of  which  is  now,  day  in  and  day  out  finding 


*Gold  certificates  issued  during  the  war,  redeemable  ex- 
clusively in  gold  coin,  are  still  in  existence.  In  fact  and 
ef  ect  these  were  specifically  redeemable  in  a  resource  con- 
sisting of  gold  coin  as  it  became  available, 


—  Ill  — 

perfect  redemption  in  resources  of  the  nation  other  than 
coin. 

And  considering  the  various  ways  in  which  treasury 
paper  finds  redemption  might  we  not  with  propriety 
even  now  change  the  phraseology  on  our  currency  so 
that  instead  of  being  a  promise  to  pay  exclusively  in 
coin,  which  now  means  gold,  it  would  become  redeem- 
able in  any  available  resource  of  government? 

The  nation  is  weak  no  longer.  If  it  allows  itself 
to  be  overcome  by  a  coterie  of  money  changers  it  is 
only  because  its  people  do  not  understand  the  situa- 
tion, and  what  is  required  or  necessary  to  be  done. 

We  are  nationally  strong,  but  we  must  exert  that 
strength  and  shape  our  monetary  system  so  that  it  will 
bring  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number.  But, 
as  has  been  remarked,  we  must  do  this  in  a  time  of 
peace;  not  in  a  war  period  when  our  credit  is  at  its 
greatest  tension.  The  outstanding  volume  of  treasury 
paper,  though  finding  other  than  gold  redemption,  is 
construed  as  being  specifically  redeemable  in  gold.  Let 
it  remain  so  for  the  time  being. 

Side  by  side  with  it  we  should  circulate  a  volume  of 
currency  redeemable,  at  the  pleasure  of  government,  in 
any  available  resources  of  the  nation. 

The  reserved  option  of  ivdempt ion  would,  in  effect, 
l>e  no  departure  from  the  existing  policy  of  redemption, 
because  when  gold  is  not  available  in  an  emergency  gov- 
ernment su-pends  specie  payments.  At  other  times, 
with  gold  available  for  the  purpose,  u~o\ eminent  might 
and  no  doubt  would  redeem  its  improved  treasury  paper 
in  coined  gold  on  demand,  while  every  form  of  treasury 
paper  would  be  redeemable  interchange-ably  in  any  re- 
source of  the  nation. 


—  112  — 

The  weight  resting  upon  the  gold  base  of  our 
monetary  system  is  altogether  too  great,  and  it  would 
Kvin  the  part  of  wisdom  to  distribute  the  strain  over 
as  many  new  piers  as  can  possibly  he  inserted  under- 
neath the  monetary  structure. 

Had  we  a  government  telegraph,  or  a  collectively 
owned  railway  system  they  would  constitute  sources  of 
currency  redemption  additional  to  those  that  now  exist 
and  by  so  much  reduce  the  volume  of  currency  that 
would  otherwise  be  subject  to  redemption  in  coined 
gold. 

It  is  said  Uncle  Sam  is  a  pauper,  and  one  would 
think  so  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  has  so  frequently 
been  compelled  to  borrow  a  monetary  tool,  and  pay 
an  interest  charge  for  its  use. 

lie  who  is  unable  to  help  himself  is  poor  indeed. 
l»ut  what  shall  we  say  of  him  who  being  able  to  help 
himself  goes  a  borrowing! 

Let  the  people  construct  their  own  monetary  tool 
out  of  the  public  credit.  Xot  some  of  the  people  as 
under  the  national  banking  system,  but  all  of  the  peo- 
ple under  a  government  system. 

Let  them  gradually  reinforce  and  strengthen  the 
public  credit  which  they  put  into  circulation  with 
tangible  resources  having  an  earning  power,  and  Uncle 
Sam  would,  for  the  first  time  in  his  career,  have  gained 
financial,  independence. 


SOCIETY.— XIX. 
MONEY— PUBLIC  WORKS. 

Every  form  of  money  is  issued  in  accordance  with 
law — its  appearance  must  be  preceded  by  legislation 
which  creates  its  'money  quality,  so  that  were  govern- 
ment to  emit  bills  of  credit  in  the  form  of  the  paper 
currency  now  in  use,  redeemable  in  any  resource  of 
which  government  may  be  possessed,  the  provisions  of 
the  law  authorizing  such  an  issue  rather  than  the  word- 
ing upon  the  treasury  bills  would  cause  it  to  be  gener- 
ally received  as  a  circulating  medium  of  exchange. 

\Ve  will  now  suppose  such  a  law  to  have  been  placed 
upon  the  statute  books,  and  assuming  the  prosperity 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  people  to  be  the  primary 
object  of  government,  we  will  consider  how  such  an 
improvement  in  our  monetary  system  would  operate 
to  bring  about  a  decided  betterment  in  social  condi- 
tions. In  fact,  whether  or  not  it  would  eil'ect  such  re- 
sults ought,  in  reason,  to  be  the  only  measure  of  its 
success  or  failure.  And  if  it  be  demonstrated  that  it 
•would  bring  to  our  people  permanent  prosperity  on 
what  ground  could  it  possibly  be  rejected? 

A  people  that  would  not  reach  out  for  the  means  of 
deliverance  from  industrial  servitude  is  not  tit  to  enjoy 
industrial  freedom,  and  whether  or  not  we  will  throw 

off  the  shackles  of  the  financial  slavery  in  which  we  are 

113 


—  114  — 

held  when  shown  the  peaceable  way,  will  determine  the 
real  stage  of  our  advancement  and  intelligence  as  a 
people. 

But  we  may  rest  assured  the  people  will  not  con- 
tinue the  use  of  an  antiquated  circulating  medium 
when  fully  convinced  that  a  more  modern  and  perfect 
is  to  their  advantage. 

But  we  are  digressing. 

It  would  seem  on  a  survey  of  the  situation  that  the 
first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  provide  employment  for  the 
people.  This  in  turn  would  supply  a  channel  through 
which  a  volume  of  collective  currency  could  be  put  into 
circulation  to  the  best  advantage. 

Let  us  suppose  government,  to  these  ends,  under- 
took the  erection  of  a  splendid  postoffice  building  in 
each  of  200  cities.*  (the  more  pretentious  to  be  erected 
in  the  more  populous  cities)  at  the  following  estimated 
cost: 

50  buildings  at $    200,000  each 

50  buildings  at 150,000  each 

50  buildings  at 100,000  each 

50  buildings  at 50,000  each 

This  would  sum  up  25  million  dollars  for  the  200 
buildings.,  a  mere  bagatelle  compared  to  the  sums  the 
nation  is  frittering  away  in  interest  for  the  use  of  the 
individual  money  of  gold  miner  and  banker. 

Government  would  not  be  justified  in  venturing  up- 


*According  to  the  census  of  1890,  there  were  in  that  year 
448  cities  of  over  6,000  population  in  the  United  States.  In 
the  spring  of  1898  there  were  247  completecl  government 
buildings  in  as  many  cities,  and  in  9  other  cities  postoffice 
buildings  were  in  course  of  construction. 


—  115  — 

on  the  erection  of  so  many  public  buildings  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  under  existing  monetary  conditions. 

In  fact,  where  conditions  are  such  that  government, 
as  now,  is  compelled  to  borrow  money  at  stated  inter- 
vals to  maintain  its  credit,  all  public  improvements  are 
virtually  made  at  an  interest  charge,  so  that  undeni- 
ably we  are  paying  interest  on  the  cost  of  a  number  of 
the  public  buildings  already  erected. 

To  erect  these  200  buildings  with  individual  money 
would  increase  taxation,  and  arouse  the  opposition  of 
property  holders.  At  the  same  time  the  mechanics  and 
laborers  of  the  country  would  look  upon  their  erection 
as  a  god-send  for  the  work  it  would  give  them. 

But,  embarrassed  as  it  is  financially,  government 
does  not,  on  an  average,  erect  more  than  four  or  five 
public  buildings  a  year,  so  that,  at  the  present  rate  of 
progress,  it  would  ta.ke  at  least  forty  years  for  the  na- 
tion to  erect  200  public  buildings. 

Such  being  the  case,  we  will  now  consider  how  we 
might  erect  these  200  buildings  with  an  improved  col- 
lective currency,  and  the  status  of  affairs  that  would 
exist  on  their  completion.  It  is  customary  in  city, 
county,  state  and  nation  for  appropriations  for  expense 
of  administration  and  for  public  works  to  be  made  at 
the  beginning  of  each  and  every  fiscal  year.  This  is  in 
accordance  with  city,  county,  state  and  federal  laws. 
The  constitution  itself  provides  that  "no  money  shall 
be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  in  consequence  of  ap- 
propriations made  by  law:  arid  a  regular  statement  and 
account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public 
moneys  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time." 

Congress,  as  we  have 'assumed,  determines  to  erect 


—  116  — 

these  200  buildings.  An  appropriation  to  defray  their 
cost  is  made,  and  it  is  ordered  thai  $'35,000,000  in  paper 
currency  redeemable  in  any  resource  of  government,  be 
issued  to  carry  on  the  work. 

An  army  of  steel  workers,  stone  cutters,  brick  layers, 
plasterers,  carpenters,  roofers,  tinners  and  other  skilled 
and  unskilled  laborers  are  set  at  work,  the  sum  of 
money  appropriated,  in  newly  printed  treasury  notes,  is 
paid  out  on  the  work  as  it  progresses,  and  in  a  year  or 
thereabouts  the  buildings  are  completed. 

The  buildings  would  be  paid  for;  the  laborers  of 
the  country  benefited;  each  of  two  hundred  cities  im- 
proved by  the  erection  of  a  beautiful  structure  for  pub- 
lic use;  the  nation  enriched  to  that  extent;  the  volume 
of  money  in  circulation  measurably  increased;  and  not 
an  additional  dollar  of  currency  could  be  issued  until 
an  appropriation  for  public  expenditure  otherwise 
would  be  determined  upon. 

With  individual  money  in  use  the  people  would  have 
been  taxed  either  directly  or  indirectly  through  revenue 
and  tariff  impositions  both  for  the  cost  of  the  build- 
ings and  the  interest  upon  the  money  with  which  they 
were  erected,  but  with  an  improved  collective  currency 
in  use,  strange  to  say,  there  would  not  a  dollar  of  bur- 
den be  placed  upon  the  people.  And  this  as  a  result 
of  the  use  of  an  improved  monetary  tool  in  which  the 
money  stamp  of  government  would  be  separated  from 
the  valuable  commodity,  instead  of  calling  upon  gold 
miners,  as  we  now  do,  to  supply  us  with  an  implement 
with  which  to  carry  on  industry.  If  we  imagine  our- 
selves compelled  to  use  tbe  gold  commodity  as  a  me- 
dium of  exchange  we  are  in  furn  compelled  to  obtain 


—  117  — 

it  at  any  cost.  And  bonds  mean  bondage.  In  contra- 
distinct  ion  to  gold  coin,  which  is  a  commodity  in  cir- 
culation, such  an  improved  collective  currency  would 
be  a  monetary  tool  constructed  of  the  public  credit  in 
circulation,  and  the  distinction  between  such  a  cur- 
rency and  the  government  paper  now  in  use  would  be 
that  while  the  latter  is  construed  as  being  redeemable 
exclusively  in  coin,  the  former  would  be  redeemable 
in  any  available  resource  of  the  nation  other  than  coin, 
and  in  coin  only  at  the  pleasure  of  government. 

The  credit  of  the  na-tion  at  the  present  time  is  based 
directly  upon  the  taxing  power  of  government  through 
wjnch  it  may  seize  upon  the  last  vestige  of  individual 
property  to  liquidate  its  obligations  payable  in  the  gold 
commodity.  Every  other  commodity  would,  were  pre- 
vailing monetary  theories  carried  out,  be  sacrificed,  in  a 
contingency  upon  the  altar  of  gold. 

And  have  not  wheat,  corn,  cotton  and  other  com- 
modities and  the  labor  wealth  of  the  country  been  so 
sacrificed  lo  these  many  years?  The  credit  of  the  na- 
tion needs  to  be  continually  bolstered  up  because  of  the 
known  impossibility  of  the  governments  of  earth  to  re- 
deem their  obligations  in  gold.  The  gold  is  not  in  ex- 
istence, and  not  even  the  taxing  po\yer  of  government 
can  bring  to  light  that  which  has  no  existence.  And 
si.ch  a  monetary  plan  is  considered  neither  fatuous  nor 
ridiculous — by  those  who  profit  by  its  continuation. 

But  with  a  demonstration  of  the  wealth  which  per- 
fected monetary  tools  not  made  of  gold  would  create, 
the  credit  of  government  would  develop  its  mature 
strength  as  if  by  magic,  and  all  doubt  of  the  ability  of 
government  to  deal  justly  with  its  creditors  would  for 
all  time  disappear. 


—  118  — 

Then,  with  a  change  in  monetary  tools,  a  change  in 
creditors  would  take  place. 

With  the  gold  commodity  retained  in  monetary  use, 
the  creditors  of  the  nation  are  a  handful  of  hankers 
and  capitalists  who  take  little  interest  in  the  people 
beyond  studying  up  opportunities  to  exploit  them  and 
their  government. 

With  a  currency  in  use  redeemable  in  any  resource 
of  the  nation  all  financial  leeches  upon  the  body  politic 
would  be  shaken  of,  and  the  people  themselves  would 
become  the  sole  creditors  of  government.  Xor  would 
it  lie  in  the  power  of  any  individual  or  combination  pf 
individuals  to  discredit  the  currency  through  whose  use 
society  as  a  whole  was  being  benefited. 

The  two  hundred  public  buildings  so  erected  would, 
at  least  in  the  judgment  of  the  new  creditors  of  govern- 
ment— the  citizens  of  the  nation — be  worth  their  cost, 
and  representing  that  much  additional  wealth  would  to 
an  equal  extent  strengthen  the  national  credit. 

The  channels  of  redemption  of  currency  issued  to 
defray  the  cost  of  public  works  would  necessarily  equal 
the  total  of  government  receipts,  and  these  in  turn  must 
be  made 'to  cover  the  total  disbursements  of  government 
including  the  cost  of  public  works. 

All  that  would  be  necessary  would  be  to  make  sure 
that  whatever  amount  of  currency  was  issued  was  put 
into  circulation  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  ap- 
propriated. Its  redemption  would  go  on  unconsciously. 

As  it  circulated  among  the  people  until  received 
back  into  the  treasury  it  would,  in  the  same  manner 
in  which  gold  coin  is  redeemed,  find  redemption  di- 


—  119  — 

rectly  in  commodities  and  service,  and  the  conveniences 
comforts  and  accessories  of  life. 

Only  the  small  percentage  of  gold  coin  taken  out  of 
circulation  and  used  directly  in  the  arts  and  industries 
finds  final  redemption;  the  great  bulk  of  minted  coin 
while  circulating  among  the  people  now  finds  what  may 
be  designated  as  an  intermediate  redemption. 

A  volume  of  gold  coin  sufficient  for  all  purposes  of 
exchange  is  supposed  to  remain  in  continuous  circula- 
tion; and  similarly  were  consecutive  issues  of  collective 
currency  to  displace  gold  entirely,  a  volume  of  such 
currency  sufficient  for  all  purposes  of  exchange  would 
remain  in  continuous  circulation. 

However,  aside  from  the  intermediate  redemption 
which  currency  issued  in  the  construction  of  public 
works  would  receive  as  it  passed  from  hand  to  hand, 
and  its  final  redemption  by  government,  it  would  receive 
economic  redemption  otherwise. 

Individuals  perform  more  or  less  labor  to  increase 
their  personal  comfort,  as  when  a  man  erects  his  own 
habitation  for  which  labor  he  is  compensated  solely  in 
its  use  and  enjoyment.  So  with  society.  It  creates  its 
public  works  for  its  own  convenience,  and,  like  the 
obligation  of  the  theatrical  manager  which  found  re- 
demption in  an  operatic  performance — in  an  intangible 
pleasure  or  enjoyment — so  would  the  continuously  out- 
standing volume  of  collective  currency  find  an  equivalent 
of  redemption  in  the  use  and. enjoyment  by  the  people 
of  the  public  buildings,  bridges,  levees  and  similar  im- 
provements whose  construction  would  become  possible 
only  through  the  use  of  that  very  currency. 

Xo  such  burdens  as  now  weigh  upon  individuals  in 


—  120  — 

the  construction  of  public   works   would  then  be  im- 
posed. 

Does  a  tax-payer  ever  receive  back  the  money  he 
contributes  toward  the  erection  of  a  court  house  or 
the  construction  of  a  public  park?  And  does  there  not 
seem  to  be  an  incongruity  in  the  circumstance  that  the 
people  of  one  generation  pay  in  full  for  public  conven- 
iences which  succeeding  generations  as  well  enjoy? 
In  the  natural  use  of  the  volume  of  currency  in  contin- 
uous circulation  those  that  come  after  would  contribute 
as  did  their  progenitors  toward  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  public  works,  and  without  incurring  a 
modicum  of  hardship  on  any,  exact  equity  would  be 
meted  out  to  all. 

As  individuals  we  favor  the  free  construction  of 
public  works  of  every  description.  It  is  simply  a  ques- 
tion of  ways  and  means,  and,  as  herein  outlined,  such 
means  are  ready  at  hand  if  we  but  make  use  of  them. 
Possessed  of  its  own  monetary  tools  no  necessity  need 
ever  arise  for  society  to  compel  a  considerable  portion 
of  its  membership  to  go  idle  because  of  the  lack  of  em- 
ployment. 

Heretofore,  men  have  asked,  How  can  wre  make 
these  improvements  when  we  have  not  the  money? 
Where,  and  at  what  rate  of  interest  can  we  borrow  the 
capital  to  do  this  work? 

Never  again  would  such  questions  be  asked  with 
an  advanced  collective  currency  in  use.  It  might  then 
be  asked,  Have  we  the  men,  and  the  material,  and  the 
machinery  to  do  this  work,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
the  existence  of  a  nation  of  eighty  million  of  the  most 
industrious  and  intelligent  people  on  earth  command- 


—  121  — 

ing  the  six  million  horse  powers  of  Xiagara,  the  twenty 
additional  millions  of  our  mountain  streams,  cataracts 
and  rivers,  and  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  our  com- 
mon country  would  render  the  asking  of  such  a  ques- 
tion a  superfluity. 


SOCIETY.— XX. 
MONEY-MUNICIPAL  PUBLIC  WORK. 

In  the  same  manner  that  we  could  erect  200  post- 
office  buildings  for  government,  we  might  construct  a 
splendid  library  building,  a  public  museum  structure, 
and  an  auditorium  in  each  of  200  cities.  Nor  does  a 
good  reason  exist  why  we  might  not  so  construct 
200  city  halls,  200  court  houses,  200  street  car  systems, 
200  electric  lighting  plants,  or  200  systems  of  water 
supply  in  as  many  municipalities,  in  case  they  were 
needed. 

An  impecunious  individual  once  remarked  that,  if 
he  had  nothing  he,  at  least,  did  not  owe  a  dollar  in  the 
world* 

So  with  cities.  There  are  some  municipalities  pos- 
sessed of  a  very  limited  amount  of  public  works,  that 
are  out  of  debt.  These  are  like  individuals  who  might 
procure  for  themselves  certain  comforts  of  life  but  re- 
frain from  so  doing  because  they  have  an  aversion  to 
going  in  debt. 

As  a  rule,  municipalities  that  have  many  costly  pub- 
lic works  are  deeply  in  debt. 

The  public  buildings  and  other  conveniences  of 
most  cities  are  constructed  with  borrowed  capital,  and 


*How  many  business  men  would  have  little  or  nothing 
if  they  did  not  owe  a  dollar  in  the  world? 

122 


—  123  — 

the  citizens  find  the  interest  charge  upon  such  indebt- 
edness a  burdensome  thing  which  it  is  difficult  to  shake 
off.  Year  in  and  year  out  they  are  compelled  to  pay  in- 
to rest,  interest,  interest! 

If  the  nation  is  a  pauper,  whose  credit,  with  gold 
;i>  a  monetary  basis,  needs  strengthening,  so  are  its 
children,  the  cities,  and  as  long  as  it  is  at  best  a  family 
matter  why  not  let  the  head  of  the  family — the  nation 
— attend  to  all  financial  affairs? 

Though  controlled  by  the  municipality  the  streets 
of  a  city  are  public  property.  Why  should  a  handful 
of  individuals  be  compelled  to  defray  the  cost  of  their 
maintenance?  They  are  public  highways,  and  as  such 
should  be  constructed,  improved,  and  maintained  by 
the  nation.  And  why  should  a  limited  number  of  indi- 
viduals be  taxed  for  the  cost  and  maintenance  of  the 
public  parks  of  a  city  which  though  vested  in  the  mu- 
nicipality are  enjoyed  as  common  property? 

All  public  work  the  country  over  should  be  carried 
on  by  the  nation  by  means  of  collective  currency  speci- 
fically appropriated.  It  would  now  be  carried  on  in 
this  manner  had  a  collective  policy  in  regard  to  land 
been  instituted  by  the  founders  of  our  government. 

From  time  to  time,  as  additional  industries  would  be 
undertaken  by  government,  it  might,  on  requisition  for 
same  approved,  supply  school  districts  with  the  text 
books,  furniture  and  other  belonging^  of  the  school 
room,  all  of  its  own  manufacture,  and  the  school  house, 
no  matter  how  costly  or  elaborate,  included,  free  of 
charge. 

If  it  could  supply  municipalities  with  their  public 
buildings  it  might  in  a  similar  manner  supply  them  with 


—  124  — 

their  fire  apparatus;  with  an  electrical  clock  on  every 
street  corner;*  with  a  telephone  system;  and  with  any 
and  all  utilities  otherwise  for  the  convenience  of  the 
people. 

The  conflicts  between  our  federal  and  state  courts 
and  the  useless  duality  of  our  civil  and  criminal  juris- 
prudence has  not  escaped  the  notice  of  observing  minds. 
All  judges  upon  the  bench,  the  magistrates  of  our 
towns  and  villages  not  cxcepted,  and  individuals  other- 
wise connected  with  the  administration  <>!'  justice, 
should,  and  of  right  ought  to  be  directly  in  government 
employ.  We  should  endeavor  to,  as  much  as  possible, 
simplify  our  unwieldy  and  complicated  machinery  of 
government. 

Suppose  we  could  readily  make  the  changes  sug- 
gested, would  there  be  any  necessity  at  this  stage  for 
keeping  up  distinct  municipal  or  city  government? 
With  firemen,  policemen,  judges,  auditors,  clerks,  and 
all  those  engaged  in  caring  for  the  public  streets  and 
buildings  taken  over  into  government  employ  we  could 
entirely  dispense  with  our  unsatisfactory  and  expensive 
city  administrations. 

And  what  object  would  be  attained  by  continuing 
our  equally  unsatisfactory  and  expensive  state  govern- 
ments were  congress  to  enact  a  uniform  code  of  civil 
and  criminal  laws  for  the  entire  country? 

On  reflection  we  cannot  but  perceive  how  little  good 
is  accomplished  by  our  state  governments,  and  if  we 


*Clocks  connected  by  wire  with  a  chronometer  centrally 
located  are  becoming  quite  common.  At  an  advanced  col- 
lective stage  a  time  piece  so  connected  might  be  installed 
in  every  business  place,  factory  and  home. 


—  125  — 

look  into  the  matter  deeply  \ve  find  them  to  be  to  a 
great  extent  responsible  1'or  the  polluted  political  at- 
mosphere in  which  the  country  is  enveloped. 

But  neither  city  administrations  nor  state  govern- 
ments can  be  abolished  in  a  jiffy.  Changes  of  so  vast 
a  nature  involving  the  doing  away  with  charters  and 
constitutions  and  the  remodeling  of  our  entire  form  of 
government  could  only  be  approached  slowly  and  grad- 
ually. They  are  not  immediate  steps  to  be  tal<en,  but  it 
is  well  for  the  people  to  think  seriously  and  deeply  upon 
the  subject.  If  they  do,  they  must  conclude  that  such 
changes  would  be  a  good  thing,  and  an  advantage  to 
the  nation,  and  that  eventually  they  will  have  to  be 
made. 


SOCIETY.— XXI. 
GOVERNMENT. 

Near  an  English  settlement  in  Africa  were  located  a 
tribe  of  natives  whoso  chief  was  a  powerful  young  giant 
in  strength  and  stature.  In  a  conflict  with  neighboring 
tribes  he  fought  courageously,  but,  though  he  made  full 
use  of  his  strength  and  power  in  battle,  no  persuasion 
could  induce  him  to  make  use  of  his  splendid  physical 
qualities  in  the  cultivation  of  the  rich  soil  over  which  he 
held  sway.  His  savage  nature  wa*s  aroused  by  war.,  while 
the  arts  of  peace  held  no  attraction  for  him. 

From  tho  way  we  manage,  one  would  be  led  to  be- 
lieve that  the  nature  of  the  savage  still  lurked  in  our 
make-up  as  a  nation.  Were  a  foreign  invader  to  come 
to  our  shores,  we  Avould  put  up  every  dollar  of  wealth 
we  possess  and  impress  every  man  capable  of  bearing 
arms  if  necessary  to  repel  him. 

We  are  a  young  giant  in  war,  but  as  a  nation,  we 
turn  from  the  arts  of  peace  even  as  the  young  Xe^p- 
refused  to  turn  up  a  furrow  in  the  soil  of  Ethiopia.  If 
we  may  carry  on  war  collectively  why  not  industry  in  a 
time  of  peace? 

Why  not  conquer  nature  by  united  effort  instead  of 
each,  in  cannibalistic  fashion,  striving  to  carve  a  com- 
petence for  himself  out  of  the  life  and  blood  of  his  fel- 
low? We  squander  vast  sums  in  works  of  destruction 

126 


-  127  — 

and  collectively  make  but  the  slightest  progress  imagi- 
nable in  works  of  construction. 

Let  us,  for  example,  see  what  might  have  been  ac- 
complished in  works  of  construction  by  a  sum  equaling 
the  interest  charge  alone  which  we  have  paid  upon  the 
cost  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  A  great  iron  and  steel 
plant  complete  in  every  detail  can  be  constructed  for 
say  $5,000,000. 

We  will  now  imagine  that  Congress  has  authorized 
the  construction  of  one  such  plant  in  each  of  the  states 
of  Alabama,  Colorado,  California,  Illinois,  Missouri, 
Michigan,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania  and  Texas.  This 
would  make  ten  great  national  iron  and  steel  plants  in 
all  costing  fifty  million  dollars. 

We  will  further  imagine  that  congress  has  author- 
ized the  establishment  of  one  thousand  other  great 
manufacturing  industries  at  an  average  cost  of  one  mil- 
lion dollars  each.  We  will  suppose  these  to  be  just 
such  concerns  as  are  now  being  operated  in  the  various 
cities  of  the  country  north,  south,  east  and  west,  and 
imagine  them  to  include  plants  for  the  manufacture  of 
wire  and  electrical  apparatus;  of  locomotives  and  other 
rolling  stock;  of  bridges;  of  hardware,  furniture,  crock- 
ery, glassware,  men's,  women's  and  children's  wear;  of 
paper  stock;  of  dairy  products  and  breadstuff's;  of  text 
books  and  school  furniture;  of  painters',  plumbers'  and 
druggists'  supplies,  and  so  on,  the  thousand  plants  sup- 
plying every  manufactured  product  that  a  limited  pop- 
ulation might  require.  In  addition  to  these,  were  gov- 
ernment to  construct  twenty-five  splendid  modern 
ocean  steamships  at  a  cost  of  $3,000,000  each;  one  hun- 
dred elevators  and  warehouses  for  the  storage  of  cereals 


—  128  — 

throughout  the  country  at  a  cost  of  $1,000,000  each; 
an  electric  lighting  plant  costing  $500,000  in  each 
of  300  cities;  a  street  car  system  costing  $500,000  in 
each  of  300  cities;  a  public  newspaper  plant  costing 
$500,000  in  each  of  300  cities;  a  waterworks  system 
costing  $500,000  in  each  of  300  cities;  a  postoffice 
building  costing  $500,000  in  each  of  300  cities;  an  im- 
posing railway  station  costing  $500,000  in  each  of  300 
cities;  an  ornate  library  structure  costing  $500,000  in 
each  of  300  cities;  a  magnificent  opera  house  costing  a 
.similar  amount  in  each  of  300  cities;  and  a  telegraph 
system  for  the  country  at  a  cost  of  $75,000,000,  were 
government  to  construct  all  these  in  addition  we  repeat, 
it  would  not  have  expended  by  $3.2,096,903  a  sum  equal- 
ing the  $2,532,096,903  which  according  to  official  re- 
ports we  paid  as  interest  upon  the  public  debt  from 
January  1,  1862,  to  December  31,  1893. 

The  interest  we  have  paid  since  the  latter  date  on 
account  of  this  same  war  debt  amounts  to  considerable 
over  a  hundred  million  dollars. 

Let  us  waive  the  excess  and  call  it  that  amount  in 
round  numbers.  For  such  a  sum,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000 
each,  we  might  have  erected  TEX  THOUSAND  sub- 
stantial modern  school  buildings  throughout  the  coun- 
try. 

And  all  of  this  vast  wealth  and  the  opportunities 
for  the  better  enjoyment  of  life  by  the  many  which  it 
represents  has  been  frittered  away  in  interest  upon  the 
cost  of  the  civil  war! 

The  original  cost  of  the  war  exceeded  the  vast  in- 
terest charges  we  have  paid  on  its  account  by  consid- 
erable over  a  hundred  million  dollars.  At  present  rates 


—  129  — 

of  construction  $15,000  will  grade,  bridge,  and  double 
track  a  mile  of  railway.  So  that  for  a  sum  equalling 
the  $•>.';  7  :V23fi,173  at  which  our  public  debt  stood  at 
the  close  of  the  rebellion  we  could  today  (1898)  not 
alone  duplicate,  but  double  track  the  180,000  miles  of 
railway  now  existing  in  the  country,  and  still  retain 
upwards  of  seventy  three  million  dollars  to  be  applied 
toward  extension  of  the  system. 

\A'c  have  already  disbursed  over  two  billion  dol- 
lars in  pensions  on  account  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion. 

In  mentioning  this  subject  we  must  not  be  under- 
stood is  intending  to  convey  the  impression  that  there 
is  the  slightest  impropriety  in  these  funds  being  so 
disbursed. 

What  we  do  intend,  however,  is  to  suggest  how  we 
might  proceed  to  eliminate  the  prevailing  industrial 
warfare  which  is  a  great  deal  more  destructive  of  life 
and  wasteful  of  wealth  than  is  its  less  insidious  proto- 
type. 

But  to  return  to  our  main  subject.  In  a  complex 
civilization,  like  that  in  which  we  live,  it  becomes  ut- 
terly impossible  for  each  individual  to  acquire  a  home 
through  his  own  exertions  however  well  directed. 

The  people,  through  their  government,  can  and 
ought  to  provide  themselves  with  homes  in  a  way 
that  society  would  eventually  become  the  sole  landlord. 

Let  us  imagine  government  undertaking  the  erec- 
tion of  a  great  number  of  ornate  and  substantial  brick, 
stone,  and  tile  structures,  ranging  say  from  two  to  eight 
rooms  in  interior  space,  intended  as  habitations  for  the 
people. 

The  designs  of  these  dwellings  would  admit  of  be- 


—  130  - 

ing  varied  to  an  unlimited  extent;  they  might  be  far 
better  supplied  with  the  conveniences  of  modern  life 
than  are  a  majority  of  homes  owned  by  their  occupants 
at  the  present  time,  and,  while  each  might  stand  in 
the  center  of  a  spacious  lawn,  and  front  upon  a  parked 
and  shaded  boulevard,  their  average  cost  need  not  ex- 
ceed, say,  two  thousand  dollars. 

Calculating  upon  that  basis,  for  a  sum  equalling 
the  two  billion  dollars  we  have  disbursed  in  pensions 
we  might  erect  two  million  such  homes,  or  five  thous- 
and beautiful  dwellings  in  each  of  four  hundred  cities. 

At  an  average  rental  charge  of  ten  dollars  a  month, 
were  each  and  every  habitation  continuously  occupied, 
government  would  receive,  in  rentals,  a  gross  income 
of  240  million  dollars  per  year,  so  that  their  original 
cost  might  be  fully  re-earned  within  one  short  decade. 

It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  cost  of  the  civil 
war,  including  interest  and  pensions  on  its  account 
which  are  still  running  on,  will  in  time  reach  the 
enormous  aggregate  of  ten  billion  dollars. 

And  the  question  arises,  If  we  may  expend  such  a 
stupendous  sum  in  liquidating  the  cost  and  the  after- 
math of  a  single  war,  why  may  we  not  expend  a  sim- 
ilar amount  or  more  in  a  time  of  peace,  when  our  credit 
is  at  its  best,  in  works  of  construction  and  usefulness? 

Again,  "the  state  is  but  the  individual  on  a  larger 
scale/''  What  an  individual  may  do  to  make  life  more 
agreeable  that  may  society  do  for  its  own  well  being. 
Hence,  when  a  state  has  so  far  advanced  as  to  be  en- 
abled to  produce  readily  all  that  is  required  to  keep  its 
people  in  material  comfort,  and  has  in  addition  ac- 
quired the  knowledge  which  enables  it  to  construct  its 


—  131  — 

own  monetary  tools,  there  is  nothing  within  the  limits 
of  its  resources  and  the  wealth  producing  capacity  of 
its  membership,  from  a  great  railway  system  permeat- 
ing every  village  and  hamlet  in  the  land,  down  to  the 
manufacture  of  a  shoestring,  which  it  may  not  for  the 
well-being  of  its  people  create. 


SOCIETY.—  XXII. 
MONEY— RAILWAYS-AN  INDUSTRIAL  CENTER. 

It  would  not  have  been  necessary  to  carry  the  idea 
of  collective  control  of  industry  conveyed  both  directly 
and  by  suggestion  as  far  as  we  have  in  the  foregoing 
pages  were  we  merely  considering  the  interests  of  some 
of  the  people,  and  not -the  best  interests  of  society  as  a 
whole. 

A  law  authorizing  the  issue  of  currency  consisting 
of  the  public  credit,  redeemable  in  any  resource  of  the 
nation,  would  relieve  the  nation  of  its  financial  em- 
barrassments, and  the  opening  up  of  a  certain  amount 
of  public  work  would,  at  least  somewhat,  improve  the 
industrial  status  of  the  country. 

But  even  were  we  to  acquire  the  telegraph  in  addi- 
tion, the  nation  would  still  be  in  the  toils  of  the  railway 
dragnet,  our  inequitable  system  of  taxation  would  still 
continue,  agriculture  on  the  whole  would  still  be  im- 
remunerative,  labor  would  still  be  despoiled  of  the 
wealth  it  produced,  and  the  great  syndicates,  trusts. 
and  monopolies  of  the  country  would  still  remain  in 
control  of  industry. 

And  though  the  remedy  for  these  conditions  would 
have  been  provided  in  an  improved  collective  currency, 
it  would  still  remain  for  that  remedy  to  be  further  ap- 
plied. 

132 


— —    _Loo        "" 

When  we  begin  the  erection  of  a  new  social  struc- 
ture it  will  not  suffice  to  leave  it  uncompleted  for  any 
length  of  time.  If  we  do,  some  will  seek  the  shelter  of 
the  portions  well  along,  while  others  will  still  remain 
exposed  to  the  blighting  storms  of  the  social  elements. 
We  must,  to  do  justice  to  all,  carry  the  work  to  com- 
pletion. At  the  same  time  the  work  should  not  be  hur- 
ried to  an  extent  that  it  can  not  be  well  done. 

Yet,  no  good  reason  exists  why  we  should  not  make 
whatever  inroads  we  can  upon  each  and  all  competitive 
pursuits  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  But  before 
we  do  this,  we  must  confront  and  overcome  the  rail- 
way problem,  because  private  ownership  of  our  trans- 
portation systems  stands  as  a  barrier  to  the  develop- 
ment of  collective  production  and  distribution. 

Government  ownership  of  railroads  means,  as  it 
does  in  other  advanced  nations,  government  ownership 
of  the  means  of  constructing  and  equipping  a  railway 
system  as  well.  And  the  question  arises  whether  it 
would  not  be  better  to  begin  by  either  constructing  out- 
right or  acquiring  by  purchase  the  various  industrial 
plants  required  for  the  manufacture  of  rails,  metallic 
ties,  bridges  and  rolling  stock,  and  for  that  matter, 
of  steel  and  iron  poles,  and  wire  for  the  extension  of  the 
telegraph,  and  of  structural  iron  for  our  public  build- 
ings as  well. 

It  hardly  seems  the  right  thing  to  duplicate  the  rail- 
ways and  telegraph  already  in  existence,  and  yet  in 
order  to  bring  the'  owners  of  these  properties  to  realize 
the  fact  that  we  could  get  along  very  well  without  ac- 
quiring their  properties  at  all,  it  might  become  neces- 
tarv  to  construct  a  few  stretches  of  road  and  wire  con- 


—  184  — 

necting,  say,  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more and  Chicago,  just  to  demonstrate  what  we  could 
do  if  we  tried. 

There  is  little  doubt,  however,  but  that  we  would 
acquire  existing  properties  through  the  exercise  of  our 
right  of  eminent  domain.  They  would  be  subject  to 
the  same  law  which  made  their  existense  a  possibility, 
and  under  that  law  they  would  be  condemned,  ap- 
praised, and  paid  for. 

Nevertheless,  it  might  be  deemed  expedient  to  lay 
out  one  or  more  entirely  new  industrial  centers,  on 
some  newly  constructed  line  of  railway  owned  and  ope- 
rated by  government,  in  the  very  beginning. 

These  newly  located  centers  of  industry  might  be 
planned  on  a  magnificent  scale,  and  be  laid  out  so  as 
to  permit  of  their  development  into  populous  cities 
replete  with  everything  essential  to  a  happy  and  en- 
joyable existence. 

Were  such  a  course  decided  upon,  corps  of  survey- 
ors, civil  and  electrical  engineers,  architects,  sculptors, 
decorators,  florists,  landscape  gardeners,  and  other 
workers  having  special  training  would  be  set  to  work, 
and  a  city  would  be  laid  out  in  consultation,  just  as 
was  the  "White  city,"  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  -jf 
1893.  Every  requirement  for  the  health,  pleasure, 
comfort,  and  convenience  of  the  people  would  be  pro- 
vided for,  and  before  long,  by  the  hands  of  an  army  of 
eager  workers,  a  city  beautiful  as  a  dream  would  rise 
as  if  by  magic. 

Locate  in  such  a  city,  which  would  be  built  upon 
government  land,  a  great  iron  and  steel  plant  which 
with  its  auxiliaries  and  departments  might  cost  five 


—  135  — 

million  dollars,  and  fifteen  varied  manufacturing  plants 
costing  a  million  dollars  each, 'and  we  would  have  in- 
vested a  total  of  20  million  dollars,  a  sum  no  greater 
than  we  expended  pursuing  a  shadow  in  preparing  the 
grounds  and  buildings  of  the  world's  fair  at  Chicago. 
Construct,  at  a  cost,  say,  of  two  million  dollars  each,  a 
sewerage  and  drainage  system,  a  system  of  paved  boule- 
vards, a  system  of  water  supply,  a  tramway  or  street 
car  system,  and  an  electrical  light,  heat  and  power 
plant,  and  we  would  have  expended  ten  million  dol- 
lars more.  Erect,  at  a  cost  of,  say,  five  million  dollars 
each,  one  hundred  splendid  public  buildings.  Includ- 
ed among  these  might  be  a  great  court  house,  a  city 
hall,  a  post  office  building,  a  government  savings  bank 
structure,  a  telegraph  and  telephone  exchange,*  a 
home  for  a  public  newspaper  plant,  a  medical  exchange, 
a  dental  exchange,  a  lawyers'  exchange,  and  a  number 
of  great  trade  bazaars  in  which  commodities  in  general 
would  be  on  sale. 

Set  each  of  these  hundred  structures  erected  of 
stone  or  other  substantial  material  in  the  center  of  a 
square  of  parked  ground  and  we  would  have  the 
nucleus  of  the  most  magnificent  city  of  either  ancient 
or  modern  times. 

Every  street  in  such  a  city  might  be  a  boulevard  lined 
with  the  habitations,  variegated  in  design  and  pleasing 
in  general  effect,  which  government  would  erect 
as  homes  for  the  people.  Not  many  years  ago,  the 
great  city  of  Philadelphia,  with  a  million  population, 
contained,  as  near  as  could  be  ascertained,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  fifty  thousand  separate  habitations.  Were 

*A11  wires  would  be  out  of  sight  under  ground. 


—  136  — 

each  such  structure  to  cost,  say,  two  thousand  dollars 
on  an  average,  government  would  expend  in  the  erec- 
tion of  a  similar  number  of  homes  in  such  a  city  a 
total  of  one  hundred  million  dollars. 

The  items  enumerated  which  would  represent  the 
expenditure  of  years  of  labor  by  an  army  of  men, 
would  sum  up  six  hundred  and  thirty  million  dollars 
in  the  aggregate. 

But  let  us  provide  for  statuary  in  profusion  about 
the  public  parks  and  along  the  boulevards,  and  for 
other  improvements  until  we  had  expended  a  total  of 
a  thousand  million  dollars.  And  suppose  every  dollar 
of  this  money  over  and  above  what  would  be  expend- 
ed in  the  maintenance  of  the  population  remained  in 
such  a  single  city.  Notwithstanding  this,  a  very  limit- 
ed volume  of  money  might  be  in  active  circulation.  The 
great  bulk  would  find  its  way  into  the  government  sav- 
ings bank;  but  with  no  speculation  in  stocks  or  provis- 
ions, no  private  commercialism,  and  no  corporation 
ownership  of  public  franchises,  no  individual  could, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  have  an  extraordinarily  larg<> 
bank  account.  Men  would  perform  useful  labor,  as 
they  do  now,  to  earn  a  livelihood,  and  individuals 
would  still  retain  as  their  private  property  all  that  they 
could  by  industry  and  thrift  accumulate.  But  under 
collective  control  of  industry  it  would  become  impossi- 
ble for  individuals  to  amass  inordinate  wealth,  and  the 
comforts  of  life  would,  as  they  in  all  sense  and  reason 
should,  be  more  evenly  distributed  than  at  the  present 
time. 


SOCIETY.— XXIII. 
MONEY-RAILWAYS-LABOR. 

We  have  depicted  an  industrial  center  founded  by 
government  as  it  would  appear  when  well  matured. 
We  will  now  return  to  its  first  stage  as  simply  a  series 
of  plants  for  the  production  of  various  commodities. 
\\  <>  mentioned  off-handedly  in  our  illustration  that  six- 
teen such  plants  might  be  located  in  such  a  city. 

They  should  not  be  located  within  its  boundaries 
any  more  than  one  would  place  his  kitchen  stove  in  his 
drawing  room.  "But,"  some  will  say,  "cities  in  the 
past  have  been  built  around  manufacturing  plants.*' 
Yes,  and  western  pioneers  have  in  the  past  thrown 
parlor,  sitting  room,  kitchen  and  bedroom  all  into  one, 
and  that  not  overly  capacious.  That  is  no  reason  men 
should  still  continue  to  live  cramped.,  unsightly  and 
uncomfortable. 

But  men  will  harp  upon  what  has  been  in  the  past, 
instead  of  looking  to  the  future.  "We  have  always  had 
bi-metallism  therefore  it  will  always  stay  with  us." 
"We  have  gold  mono-metallism  now,  therefore  we  will 
always  have  it."  "We  have  planing  mills  and  junk 
yards  and  rendering  establishments  in  the  heart  of  Chi- 
r-ago  and  other  cities,  therefore  they  will  always  be  so 
located." 

Such  logic  is  positively  fatiguing. 
'137 


—  13$  — 

A  modern  city  should  not  contain  manufacturing 
industries  of  such  proportions  as  to  render  it  unsightly. 

Suppose  a  dinner  plate  represented  the  area  of  a 
great  metropolis,  and  sixteen  silver  dollars  round 
about  separated  by  short  distances  from  the  plate  rep- 
resented that  many  industrial  centers;  would  not  that 
be  a  better  arrangement  than  if  the  industries  were  lo- 
cated within  the  boundaries  of  the  city  itself? 

There  is  a  deep  purpose,  and  appropriateness  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  solar  system.  We  observe  an  exist- 
ing reciprocity  between  the  planets  that  revolve  about 
the  great  luminary  of  day  and  the  orb  of  light  itself, 
and  likewise  there  would  exist  a  close  reciprocal  relation 
between  such  a  metropolis  and  its  industrial  satellites. 

The  great  Aristotle,  who  was  a  pupil  of  Plato,  ba^-d 
his  philosophy  on  the  principle  of  experience,  that  is 
to  say,  the  principle  that  all  our  thinking  should  be 
founded  on  the  observation  of  facts. 

Were  we  in  search  of  a  practical  demonstration  of 
the  ease  with  which  an  industrial  center  may  be  estab- 
lished and  successfully  maintained,  the  town  of  Pull- 
man with  the  manufacture  of  railway  coaches  as  its 
main  industry  would  furnish  us  with  one  of  the  many 
examples  to  be  found  the  world  over.  And  applying 
the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  in  another  direction,  we 
observe  how  the  men  who  create  useful  things  by  their 
labor,  are  oppressed  and  tyrannized  over  when  sucli 
enterprises  are  carried  on  by  cither  individuals  or  cor- 
porations. Apply  that  philosophy  again,  and  we  ob- 
serve than  the  scrip  which  corporations  so  isolated  issue 
to  their  employees  finds  complete  redemption  in  com- 
modities or  any  resource  of  the  corporation  when  pre- 


—  139  — 

sented  at  the  company  store.  Thus  it  would  find  re- 
demption when  turned  back  to  the  company  for  house 
rent,  for  medical  attendance  of  the  company  physicians 
and  surgeons,,for  illuminating  gas  supplied,  for  water 
service,  and  so  on. 

With  the  exceptions  that  government  would  com- 
pensate its  employees  in  legal  tender  money  instead  of 
scrip,  and  could  supply  every  want  of  the  people  in- 
stead of  the  few  which  corporations  supply,  the  indus- 
trial organization  of  such  concerns  seems  like  a  minia- 
ture of  those  which  society  would  adopt  on  an  extend- 
ed scale.  Instead  of  being  employed  by  corporations, 
lawyers,  doctors,  and  the  working  people  would  be  em^ 
ployed  directly  by  government,  and  it  would  redeem  its 
paper  obligations  directly  in  cither  commodities  01 
service  without  an  intermediate  exchange  into  any 
commodity  whatsoever. 

With  one  or  more  industrial  centers  for  the  manu- 
facture of  rails  and  railway  equipment  established,  the 
construction  of  railways  might  be  carried  on  without 
cessation. 

An  individual  possessed  of  a  great  farm  might  obll 
gate  himself  to  pay  his  hands  a  fixed  stipend  and  re- 
deem that  promise  or  obligation  in  the  wealth  the  labor 
of  his  employees  would  create. 

Similarly  the  nation  would  so  direct  the  use  of  its 
collective  currency  as  to  cause  it  to  create  the  resources 
for  its  redemption. 

Thus  money  expended  in  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
way and  telegraph  system  for  the  country  would  create 
in  telegraph  tolls  and  railway  charges  a  mighty  source 
of  currency  redemption. 


—  140  — 

Were  the  acquirement  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the 
gold  commodity  at  its  present  artificial  value  a  condi- 
tion predecent  to  government  carrying  on  such  an 
abundance  of  public  work,  the  vast  wealth,  which  it 
would  represent,  and  the  incidental  change  for  the  bet- 
ter in  social  conditions  generally  would  be  impossible 
of  attainment. 

With  a  perfected  currency  in  use  we  could  readily 
abolish  the  slums  and  the  haunts  of  vice  of  our  cities, 
transform  our  bill-boarded  and  shabby-looking  streets 
into  attractive  thoroughfares,  erect  magnificent  struc- 
tures for  public  use,  provide  ourselves  with  elegant 
homes,  and  gratify  our  sense  of  taste  and  of  comfort 
by  creating  round  about  us  an  agreeable  and  pleasure- 
able  environment. 


SOCIETY.— XXIV. 
LAND-AGRICULTURE. 

With  such  a  currency  in  use  we  could  accomplish 
all  this  and  more.  By  means  of  it  the  nationalization 
of  the  soil  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  lakes  to  gulf, 
could  he  eventually  brought  about  through  condemna- 
tion and  purchase. 

But  there  would  be  no  immediate  necessity  for  a 
general  change  In  land  ownership.  Government  might, 
without  disturbing  existing  land  titles  for  years,  put  to 
collective  use  the  lands  of  which  the  nation  is  still  pos- 
sessed. 

This  land,  located  mostly  in  the  so-called  arid 
regions  of  the  west,  needs  only  water  introduced  upon 
it  to  make  it  capable  of  bearing  never  failing  crops. 

Under  collective  control,  great  systems  of  irrigation 
would  be  constructed  by  government  to  prepare  this 
fertile  yet  neglected  portion  of  our  domain,  for  cultiva- 
tion.* 

Then  again,  some  of  the  states  have  vast  tracts  of 


*  Collective  control  of  land  is  the  only  solution  of  the 
otherwise  unsolvable  question  of  water  rights.  While  these 
lines  are  being  penned,  the  newspapers  make  mention  of 
the  preparation  of  papers  for  a  suit  by  Kansas  farmers 
against  the  state  of  Colorado  and  its  people  for  a  diversion 
by  the  latter  of  the  waters  of  the  Arkansas  river,  for  pur- 
poses of  irrigation,  to  the  detriment  of  Kansas  agriculture, 

141 


—  142  — 

unoccupied  land  under  their  control  which  they  would 
no  doubt  willingly  surrender  up  to  the  general  govern- 
ment to  be  put  to  collective  use. 

With  collective  methods  in  agriculture  and  manu- 
factures introduced,  the  state  of  Texas  alone  could 
easily  maintain  a  population  greater  than  that  of  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time.  The  nationaliza- 
tion of  agriculture  the  country  over  would  be  brought 
about  by  degrees. 

Government  might  proceed  in  this  regard  just  as 
a  colossal  syndicate  would  which  determined  upon  con- 
trolling, say,  the  grain  and  cotton  commodities. 

This  would  be  to  purchase  the  entire  cotton  and 
wheat  product  of  the  country,  which  it  would  distribute 
to  its  mills  and  factories,  receiving  and  storing  the 
surplus  in  great  elevators  and  warehouses  which  it 
might  erect  the  country  over. 

In  purchasing  these  staples  government  might  fix 
a  uniform  price  to  be  paid  producers,  say,  one  dollar 
a  bushel  for  No.  1  wheat,  and  ten  cents  a  pound  for  cot- 
ton delivered  at  elevator  or  storehouse,  and  on  the 
whole  establish  an  absolute  monopoly  of  these  products 
not  alone  in  the  interest  of  the  farmers  and  planters, 
but  of  every  citizen  of  the  nation  as  well.  Such  a  plan, 
however,  must  be  considered  merely  as  one  of  the  many 
ways  in  which  government  might  proceed  while  keep- 
ing in  view  the  ultimate  aim,  which  is  the  collective 
control  of  industry. 

But,  by  the  time  that  the  lands  still  collectively 
owned  by  the  people  were  brought  under  cultivation, 
the  advantages  of  common  ownership  of  the  soil  would 
become  so  evident  that  there  would  be  but  few  unwill- 
ing to  dispose  of  their  holdings. 


—  143  — 

Such  would  be  reluctant  to  part  with  their  landed 
possessions  merely  through  sentiment,  because  the  re- 
tention of  their  lands  would  only  entail  a  burden  upon 
them  of  which  others  would  be  relieved. 

We  are  only  transients  upon  the  earth,  and  claim 
ownership  of  the  soil  merely  to  secure  a  fairly  com- 
fortable existence.  If  we  were  assured  that,  it  would 
make  little  difference  whether  we  owned  the  soil  or  not. 

How  many  of  our  farmers  would  refuse  a  position 
at  a  fair  salary  to  superintend  an  experimental  agricul- 
tural station  established  by  government?  Were  it 
tendered  them  few  indeed  would  decline  to  accept  such 
an  offer. 

Under  collective  control  of  industry  those  engaged 
in  the  department  of  agriculture  would,  like  the  work- 
ers in  other  departments,  be  employees  of  government, 
and  inasmuch  as  their  wage  compensation  would  en- 
able them  to  enjoy  the  comforts  of  life  on  an  equality 
with  other  wage  earners,  the  object  sought  to  be  com- 
passed tb  rough  land  ownership  would  be  otherwise 
attained. 


SOCIETY.— XXV. 
LAND— AGR.CULTURE— MONEY. 

In  a  consideration  of  territory  that  might  and  ought 
to  be  put  to  collective  use  we  must  not  overlook  that 
great  body  of  land,  lying  partially  within  the  arctic 
circle,  which  the  nation  acquired  by  purchase  from 
Kussia,  and  which  still  remains  unsubdivided  and  in- 
tact, a  common  collective  resource  of  the  nation. 

Including  its  outlying  islands  this  vast  territory  is 
nearly  equal  in  area  to  all  the  United  States  from  the 
Atlantic  ocean  to  the  Mississippi  river,  and  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Notwithstanding  the  supposedly  rigorous  climate 
of  Alaska,  the  tillable  lands  of  the  great  Yukon  valley 
are  capable  of  producing  fruits,  grains,  and  vegetables 
in  profusion  during  the  short  hot  summer  "in  which 
the  sun  shines  for  about  twenty  hours  every  day. 

These  vast  areas  are  naturally  adapted  to  cultiva- 
tion on  a  large  scale,  and  present  an  opportunity  for 
collective  agricultural  production  of  which  we  should, 
at  an  early  day,  take  advantage.* 


*A  writer  in  the  San  Francisco  Morning  Press  speaking 
of  the  Yukon  Valley  says:  "A  very  large  portion  of  it  is 
similar  to  the  Red  River  Valley  of  Minnesota  in  formation 
and  in  soil.  Where  the  river  makes  its  exit  from  the  moun- 
tains are  immensa  level  tracts  of  deep,  rich  soil  which  are 
only  slightly  broken  at  long  intervals.  So  level,  indeed, 

144 


—  145  — 

No  man  can  lawfully  claim  any  portion  of  the  soil 
of  Alaska,  and  no  individual  should  ever  be  permitted 
to  absolutely  own  a  single  foot  of  the  land  within  its 
borders. 

With  such  an  aim  in  -view  the  policy  which  con- 
gress ought  to  pursue  as  regards  the  temporary  use  and 
occupancy  of  land  in  the  territory  is  clear. 

It  should  compel  those  wiio  have  squatted  upon  the 
public  domain  to  take  leases,  and  pay  a  rental  to  gov- 
ernment for  the  ground  upon  wThich  they  have  erected 
their  business  houses  and  their  homes. 

With  government  retaining  the  ownership  of  land 
no  speculative  advantage  could  ever  be  derived  by  any 
individual  through  the  natural  increase  or  the  gather- 
ing of  population.  Land  then  would,  as  it  should,  have 
no  value  except  for  whatever  use  it  might  be  put  by 
government. 

It  would  be  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  inaugu- 
rate collective  control  over  industry  and  commerce  in 
the  territory  of  Alaska. 

The  very  rapids  which  now  tend  to  make  the  naviga- 
tion of  its  rivers,  in  certain  localities,  dangerous,  could, 
by  means  of  their  water  powers,  be  made  to  generate 
electricity  sufficient  to  operate  the  railway  system  that 
government  might  construct,  turn  the  wheels  of  the 
factories,  foundries,  and  mills  which  it  might  erect, 
and  supply  the  light,  the  heat,  and  the  means  of  local 
transportation  in  the  cities  which  it  might  found. 

By  means  of  issues  of  improved  collective  curren- 


are  these  flats  that  the  eye  can  seldom  detect  any  change  in 
the  surface  on  them,  and  a  furrow  25  miles  long  might  be 
turned  in  many  places  without  a  break. 


—  146  — 

cy  previously  estimated  ami  appropriated,  govern- 
ment might  establish  such  manufacturing  plants  in 
the  sea-board  settlements  as  would  be  required  in  the 
upbuilding  of  these  and  other  industrial  centers,  there- 
by providing  a  working  base  for  the  development  of 
the  country  in  general. 

It  might  construct,  say,  a  rolling  mill,  an  iron 
foundry  and  machine  shop,  a  planing  mill  and  wood 
working  plant,  and  a  few  auxiliary  industries  in  each 
of  the  more  important  settlements  along  the  coast,  es- 
pecially as  the  people  collectively  own  every  foot  of  the 
ground  upon  which  they  are  located.  Government 
might  supply  every  convenience  and  accompaniment 
of  civilization  such  as  water  works,  gas  and  electric 
light  plants,  street  tramways,  court  houses,  town  halls, 
lecture  rooms,  libraries,  hospitals,  schools,  colleges, 
theatres,  art  galleries,  museums,  parks,  and  so  forth. 
By  not  continuing  the  regulations  of  the  past  permit- 
ting private  ownership  of  land,  the  people  would  no 
more  be  compelled  to  bond  themselves  and  posterity 
to  pay  interest  upon  the  cost  of  such  public  works,  and 
in  their  helplessness  take  on  the  fetters  of  financial 
slavery. 

Government  could  erect  its  own  business  structures, 
in  which  it  might  keep  on  sale  such  wares  and  mer- 
chandise as  it  produced,  and  commodities  otherwise 
purchased  in  the  open  market,  which  it  would  supply 
at  a  profit  to  its  employees  and  the  public  in  general.* 

It  might  erect  a  number  of  not  very  costly  dwell- 


*  It  would  purchase  these  just  as  it  now  purchases 
supplies  for  the  army  and  navy  in  times  of  either  peace  or 
war. 


—  147  — 

ings  in  these  cities  just  as  a  combination  of  capitalists 
would  do  did  they  own  the  ground,  to  meet  the  demand 
for  same  which  would  be  created  by  collective  control 
of  industry. 

One  or  more  milling  or  flouring  plants  would  be 
an  early  requirement,  as  would  also  be  a  number  of  ele- 
vators or  warehouses  for  the  handling  and  storage  of 
the  grains  and  cereals  which  government  would,  before 
long,  produce. 

It  must  be  clearly  seen  that  the  upbuilding  of  these 
and  other  cities  of  the  nation,  and  the  carrying  on  of 
industry  by  society  as  a  whole  through  the  use  of  an 
improved  collective  currency  would  give  the  people 
steady  and  dignified  employment  at  a  wage  compensa- 
tion which  would  enable  them  to  procure  and  enjoy 
every  obtainable  comfort  of  life.  Every  once  in  a 
while  there  is  a  deficiency  in  the  revenues  of  govern- 
ment, and  whenever  this  occurs  it  is  plain  that  every 
dollar  additionally  expended  for  a  public  building  or 
other  improvement  would  have,  by  so  much,  increased 
such  deficiency.  As  it  is,  government  undertakes  but  a 
minimum  of  public  work  in  order  to  avoid  a  deficiency. 
When  we  limit  our  public  work,  as  we  now  do,  to  the 
quantity  of  a  single  scarce  commodity  we  are  enabled 
to  procure  by  and  through  which  the  cost  of  construct- 
ing that  public  work  may  be  defrayed,  it  naturally  fol- 
lows that  the  labor  power  of  the  country  which  remains 
inactive  when  with  an  improved  collective  currency  in 
use  it  might  find  continuous  employment,  is  being  need- 
lessly if  not  wantonly  wasted. 

With  the  gold  commodity  continued  in  use  as  a 
monetary  tool  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  nation  to 


—  148  — 


acquire  its  utilities  or  conveniences,  and  inexpedient 
for  it  to  engage  in  either  manufactures  or  agriculture 
at  any  time  in  the  near  future.  Consequently  a  remod- 
eling of  our  monetary  system  is  the  first  reform  to  be 
accomplished. 


SOCIETY.— XXVI. 
OUR  COLONIAL  POSSESSIONS. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  Spanish-Amer- 
ican war  has  crossed  upon  the  stage  of  the  world,  and 
has  passed  into  history. 

Once  again  the  cause  of  human  rights  has  heen  ad- 
vanced, and  incidentally  we  have  acquired  new  terri- 
tory with  millions  of  population  to  whom  we  will  grant 
the  same  voice  in  government  which  we  enjoy. 

The  masses  in  our  newly  acquired  colonial  posses- 
sions are  poor  and  weak,  and  like  the  masses  in  all 
countries,  their  poverty  and  weakness  has  heen  taken 
advantage  of  by  the  cunning,  the  shrewd,  and  the  strong. 

Now  that  they  have  become  citizens  of  our  republic, 
they  confidently  expect  that  they  will  no  more  be  sub- 
jected to  the  hard  conditions  under  which  they  labored 
under  Spanish  rule. 

Will  their  hopes  and  aspirations  be  realized,  or  will 
they  awaken  to  a  bitter  disappointment? 

We  might  under  the  stars  and  stripes  introduce  a 
new  civilization  that  would  be  a  real  blessing  into  our 
newly  acquired  colonial  possessions. 

We  might,  particularly  in  the  Philippines  establish 
national  workshops,  factories  and  mills  in  charge  of 

trained  American  artisans  and  mechanics  in  which  the 

149 


-  150  - 

native  population  might  be  instructed  in  modern  man- 
ufactures, and  thereby  become  a  power  for  good.  If 
we  may  transport  an  armed  troop  to  garrison  our  new 
tropical  possessions  why  may  we  not  transport  an  indus- 
trial army  into  such  territory  for  fhe  uplifting  of  its 
helpless  millions? 

We  can  readily  teach  the  young  natives  how  to 
construct  and  operate  railways,  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone. Will  we  do  it?  After  rescuing  these  people 
from  the  extortions  of  an  office-holding  horde,  bearing 
the  insignitia  of  royalty,  ought  we  to  turn  them  over  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  commercial  and  industrial  brig- 
ands for  exploitation? 

Imagine  a  strike  of  natives  who  would  receive,  say 
ten  cents  a  day  for  their  labor  in  a  factory  owned  by 
capitalists. 

Naturally  there  is  lawlessness,  and  a  detachment  of 
the  regular  army  appears  upon  the  scene.  The  superin- 
tendent of  the  factory  hobnobs  with  the  colonel  of  the 
regiment  for  a  while,  who  soon  steps  up  and  orders  the 
mob  to  disperse,  at  the  same  time  informing  them  that 
the  corporation  has  the  law  on  its  side.  The  native 
women,  pale,  ragged,  half-starved  and  in  their  des- 
peration unmindful  of  the  danger  which  threatens 
those  they  love,  make  an  appeal  to  the  soldiery. 

Will  you  men  from  the  ranks  of  the  working  people 
shoot  down  without  provocation  our  husbands,  fathers 
and  brothers  who  are  merely  asking  for  a  living  wage? 

But  the  provocation  soon  comes.  Some  one  throws 
a  stone  which  strikes  down  a  soldier  and  the  order  is 
given  to  fire. 

Are  all  those  peaceably  inclined  responsible  for  the 


—  151  — 

lawless  act  of  some  one  individual?  Whether  they  are 
or  not  they  are  invariably  held  so  in  cases  of  this  kind. 

This  is  a  danger  which  threatens  every  gathering  of 
the  working  people  who  seek  a  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances otherwise  than  at  the  ballot  box. 

It  is  a  matter  of  self-preservation  for  the  soldiers, 
and  a  volley  of  death  is  meted  out  indiscriminately  to 
human  beings  who  believe  that  the  strike  is  the  only 
way  in  which  they  can  better  their  condition. 

It  is  horrible,  even  in  imagination,  yet  we  would 
only  have  transplanted  to  the  Philippines  our  existing 
American  industrial  methods. 

Thousands  of  miles  away  from  where  ^the  wives, 
mothers,  sisters  and  sweethearts  of  those  slain  are  sob- 
bing over  their  dead,,  the  Associated  Press,  the  mouth- 
piece of  plutocracy  has  sent  out  a  highly  colored  ac- 
count of  the  affair,  winding  up  with  the  interview  of 
some  martial  martinet  who  alludes  to  the  desperate 
character  of  the  Filippinos,  and  suggests  that, 
in  view  of  the  troubled  industrial  situation  existing  in 
the  archipeligo,  the  permanent  garrison  of  Manila  be  it 
least  doubled. 

Tin1  poor,  weak  yet  fairly  intelligent  natives  of  the 
Philippines  as  well  as  those  of  our  other  colonial  pos- 
sessions may  yet  learn  if  commercial  interests  succeed, 
as  it  seem>  they  will,  in  shaping  the  destiny  of  those  far 
away  territories,  that  corporations  will  compel  them  to 
accept  the  measure  of  civilization  which  they  will  pre- 
scribe if  they  have  to  kill  off  the  population  in  droves 
to  maintain  their  control  over  industry. 


SOCIETY.— XXVII. 
AN  EVOLUTIONARY  ADVANCE. 

With  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  we  have  incorpor- 
ated as  part  of  the  collective  institutions  which  we  con- 
trol, the  postal  savings  bank  of  Honolulu.  Every  pro- 
gress ive  nation  of  earth,  our  own  excepted,  has  for  two 
or  more  decades  maintained  a  system  of  postal  savings 
banks  in  which  the  moneys  of  the  people  have  found 
absolute  security,  and  the  fact  that  with  such  an  ex- 
ample before  us  we  have  for  so  long  put  up  with  the 
bank  failures  that  have  been  continually  occurring 
whilst  an  endless  train  of  misery,  ruin  and  suicide  has 
followed  in  their  wake,  has  been  a  disparagement  upon 
the  fair  name  and  fame  of  the  repuolic. 

But  we  had  annexed  Hawaii,  and  the  postal  sav- 
ings bank  at  its  capital  had  become  an  American  in- 
stitution. 

What  to  do  with  it  became  the.  question  for  the  ad- 
ministration to  answer. 

If  former  policies  had  been  adhered  to,  it  would 
have  been  abolished  without  ceremony,  and  its  two  mil- 
lions of  deposits  consigned  to  the  tender  care  of  the 
banking  fraternity. 

Such  a  course  would,  however,  have  appeared  un- 
seemly in  view  of  the  fact  that  over  a  million  voters 
had,  in  1892,  cast  a  ballot  favoring  the  establishment  of 

a  postal  savings  bank  system. 

152 


—  153  — 

s  this,  in  to  doing  we  would  have  been  taking 
a  >iep  backward  in  abolishing  a  collective  institution 
where  other  governments  had  for  so  many  years  made 
the  care  of  the  peoples'  savings  a  government  function. 
John  Brown  brought  the  anti-slavery  agitation  to  a 
crisis.  When  the  hour  has  come  in  time  something 
out  of  the  ordinary  happens  which  brings  on  a  decided 
evolutionary  advance,  and  in  our  time  that  some- 
thing has  been  the  war  with  Spain.  By  how  much  the 
acquisition  of  the  government  bank  of  Honolulu  influ- 
enced the  decision  of  the  administration  we  do  not 
know;  but  we  do  know  that  shortly  thereafter  an  order 
went  out  from  the  postmaster  general  with  the  sanction 
of  the  president  which  virtually  established  a  postal 
savings  bank  system  throughout  the  United  States  and 
its  possessions.  If  we  reflect  upon  its  meaning  and  pos- 
sibilities we  find  this  to  be  one  of  the  most  important 
steps  in  the  direction  of  society's  control  over  its  inter- 
nal affairs  ever  undertaken  by  our  government,  and 
once  again  illustrates  the  steady  course  of  the  evolu- 
tionary drift  toward  collective  control  of  industry  in 
general. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1898,  an  individual 
might  have  remarked  to  another: 

"These  debates  as  to  whether  or  not  government 
ought  to  engage  in  banking  are  simply  a  waste  of  time 
and  effort.  We  have  in  the  country  a  thousand  sav- 
ings institutions,  and  they  are  amply  capable  of  caring 
for  the  people's  savings.  And  it  will  never  be  other- 
wise. Not  in  a  thousand  years  will  government  go  in- 
to the  banking  business." 

In  the  month  of  October,  of  the  same  year,  he  would 


—  154  — 

have  discovered  that  beside  these  one  thousand  savings 
institutions  carried  on  by  private  enterprise,  upwards  of 
thirty-five  thousand  government  savings  banks  had 
sprung  into  existence. 

Under  the  new  regulations  by  which  every  money 
order  postoffice  in  the  land  becomes  a  government 
savings  bank  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  will  be- 
come the  great  central  depository  of  the  system. 

This  is  as  it  should  be,  and  this  central  depository 
and  its  branches  ought  to  be  made  the  sole  repositories 
of  public  moneys. 

Administration  officials  have  in  recent  years  kept 
public  funds  aggregating  as  much  as  fifty  million  dol- 
lars on  deposit  in  various  banks  of  the  country.  These 
moneys  of  the  people,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of 
treasury  paper,  form  a  convenient  means  by  which  the 
bankers  having  them  on  deposit  raid  the  gold  reserve, 
the  status  of  affairs  being  a  great  deal  like  a  man  who 
furnishes  the  club  with  which  he  is  knocked  down  and 
robbed. 

Not  a  dollar  of  public  money  ought  to  be  placed  on 
deposit  in  private  hands. 

Now  that  a  great  chain  of  government  savings 
banks  has  been  established,  it  will  become  possible  for 
the  nation  to  protect  the  currency  which  it  will  no 
doubt  before  long  adopt,  from  the  attack  of  any  and  all 
antagonistic  elements.  A  treasury  note  consisting  of 
the  public  credit  in  circulation  will  then  be  received  on 
deposit  at  its  full  face  value,  and  the  public  treasury 
will  no  longer  be  utilized  as  a  storehouse  for  gold,  sil- 
ver or  other  commodities. 

When  the  vast  sum,  which  in  the  aggregate  the  peo- 


—  155    — 

pie  leave  on  deposit  in  corporate  savings  banks  and 
other  financial  concerns  shall,  as  it  eventually  will,  find 
its  way  into  government  banks,  the  public  credit  will 
not  alone  be  immeasurably  strengthened,  but  such 
funds  would  at  the  same  time  be  at  the  disposal  of  gov- 
ernment to  be  utilized  in  various  ways  for  the  public 
good.  As  it  is,  it  piles  up  in  bank  vaults  at  the  very 
time  a  general  depression  exists  in  the  land,  and  not 
even  the  banks  can  find  for  it  profitable  investment  or 
a  way  of  putting  it  into  circulation. 

According  to  statistics  there  is  over  four  billion  dol- 
lars on  deposit  in  the  so-called  national  banks  and  the 
savings  banks  of  the  country. 

What  an  amount  of  public  work  might  be  under- 
taken by  government  with  this  money  had  it  access  to 
its  use  as  it  would  were  it  deposited  in  the  great  central 
bank  of  a  postal  savings  system! 

Nor  would  the  amount  on  deposit  be  much  if  any 
depleted  through  its  use  in  such  manner,  because  as  it 
would  be  paid  out  to  mechanics,  artisans,  professional 
men,  and  laborers  on  government  work,  it  would  be  re- 
deposited  with  government  by  those  who  would  so  re- 
ceive it,  for  safe  keeping. 

One  need  not  be  profoundly  wise  to  discern  that,  a 
governmental  policy  under  which  public  work  virtually 
comes  to  a  standstill  while  the  life  blood  of  the  nation 
congeals  in  bank  vaults  is  perfectly  idiotic  and  suicidal. 


SOCIETY.— XXVHI. 
AN  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  FURTHER  PROGRESS. 

Another  institution  which  has  come  into  our  pos- 
session through  the  acquisition  of  territory  formerly 
controlled  by  Spain  is  the  government  telegraph  of 
Porto  Rico. 

In  its  construction  the  Spanish  government  but  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  more  progressive  nations  which 
the  world  over  are  making  the  transmission  of  intelli- 
gence by  wire  a  government  function. 

In  fact,  of  all  the  governments  of  earth  the  only 
countries  beside  the  United  States  in  which  private  or 
company  telegraphic  systems  exist  are  Bolivia,  Cyprus, 
and  the  Honduras  republic. 

Sixty-eight  nations,  including  all  the  governments 
of  the  earth,  great  and  small,  except  those  mentioned, 
own  and  control  the  telegraph  which  serves  them,  and 
in  view  of  that  fact  would  it  not  be  a  remarkable  cir- 
cumstance if  we,  the  greatest  nation  of  earth,  should 
make  no  effort  to  supply  ourselves  with  a  government 
telegraph  until  after  each  of  these  three  weak  puny  lit- 
tle nations  shall  have  taken  such  a  step,  so  that  we 
would  be  the  verv  last  of  nations  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  the  telegraph  monopoly  to  which  we  now  tamely 
submit? 

Oh,  the  shame,  disgrace  and  humiliation  that  is  con- 
veyed in  the  verv  thought! 

156 


—  157  - 

The  telegraph  was  originally  (18-M-iT)  a  part  of  the 
postal  system.  It  was  owned  by  the  nation,  and  its 
surrender  into  private  control  was  earnestly  opposed 
by  Henry  Clay,  the  great  whig  leader,  and  by  Cave 
Johnson  the  democratic  postmaster  general,  at  that 
time.  But  the  capitalists  who  conspired  to  secure  it 
for  their  private  gain  succeeded  in  so  doing,  and  it 
passed  out  of  national  ownership  and  control.  The 
construction  of  a  government  telegraph,  even  though 
paid  for  in  gold,  has  been  urged  by  statesmen  for  years. 

In  a  speech  on  the  floor  of  the  senate  January  20, 
1883,  Senator  Edmunds  said:  "What  the  United  States, 
in  regard  to  its  postal  affairs  and  the  welfare  of  the 
people,  needs  more  than  anything  else,  is  the  construc- 
tion of  a  postal  telegraph  beginning  moderately  be- 
tween great  points  in  the  country  and  all  intermediate 
points,  and  then  extending  it  just  as  we  have  the  mail 
system  as  the  needs  of  the  community  and  fair  economy 
would  require  until  every  postofh'ce  should  have,  or  be 
"within  the  reach  of,  a  postal  telegraph. 

"But  I  beg  the  stock  operators  in  New  York  not  to 
suppose  that  I,  for  one,  am  in  favor  of  the  United 
States  buying  out  any  telegraph  company  anywhere.  I 
am  in  favor  of  the  United  States  building  its  own  pos- 
tal telegraph  and  managing  it  in  its  own  way,  and  leav- 
ing the  gentlemen  who  are  engaged  in  private  pursuits 
to  pursue  their  operations  in  their  own  way  as  private 
pursuits." 

Senator  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  in  a  speech  on  the 
senate  floor,  stated  his  views  on  this  subject  in  the  fol- 
lowing language:  "I  should  rather  also,  in  this  con- 
nection, consider  one  other  subject  of  infinitely  greater 


—  158  — 

importance  than  even  this  proposition  (to  reduce  pos- 
tage), and  that  is,  whether  the  time  has  not  arrived 
in  this  country  when  the  government  should  assume  to 
convey  intelligence  by  electricity,  not  the  management 
of  the  present  telegraph  lines,  but  when  we  should 
transmit  through  our  postoffices  and  our  post  roads 
communications  by  electricity,  by  wires  constructed  by 
the  government  itself. 

"The  government  of  the  United  States  might  dupli- 
cate all  the  wires  and  all  the  means  of  transportation  by 
electricity  for  about  $20,000,000  or  $25,000,000. 

"If  therefore  we  wish  to  do  an  actual  good  to  our 
people,  if  we  wish  to  confer  upon  them  an  enormous  ben- 
efit, we  should  assume  that  which  we  have  a  right  to  as- 
sume as  a  part  of  the  postal  service  of  the  country,  the 
transmission  of  intelligence  by  electricity." 

Other  expressions  by  statesmen,  of  a  similar  tenor, 
might  be  quoted,  but  the  desirability  of  a  government 
telegraph  as  part  of  the  postal  service  is  so  evident  as 
to  make  their  use  superfluous. 

One  great  reason  why  the  telegraph  service  should 
be  made  a  public  function  is  found  in  the  censorship 
which  a  private  corporation  exercises  over  the  matter 
sent  over  its  wires,  especially  where  the  perpetuation  of 
its  control  of  this  branch  of  the  public  service  is  in- 
volved. 

Imagine  Abraham  Lincoln  as  living  to-day,  and  urg- 
ing upon  a  great  concourse  of  the  common  people  th<? 
importance  of  the  construction  of  a  government  tele- 
graph. Were  he  to  show  how  the  nation  could  con- 
struct its  own  telegraph  system  through  government 


—  159  — 

cuironcy  redeemable  in  telegraph  tolls,  would  the  As- 
sociated Press  send  out  a  report  of  that  speech? 

If  it  quoted  any  portion  of  his  remarks  at  all,  it 
would  l)e  sonic  <|iiaint  story  or  anecdote  told  to  put  his 
ainJknce  in  good  humor,  or  other  unimportant  passages, 
bur  reference  to  such  portions  as  it  thought  imperiled 
its  sinecure  would  certainly  be  suppressed. 

And  in  this  manner  the  arguments  for  government 
currency,  and  for  public  control  of  public  utilities, 
many  of  them  gems  of  oratory  and  all  of  them  irrefuta- 
ble, are  being  daily  and  hourly  either  suppressed  or 
garbled  so  as  to  become  unintelligible.  Banking  inter- 
ests, railroad  interests  and  the  trusts  and  combines  of 
the  country  have  bagged  the  people,  and  the  telegraph 
monopoly  with  a  thread  of  wire  has  sewn  up  the  sack. 

It  was  this  that  the  martyred  Lincoln  foresaw  when 
he  remarked  in  186-i: 

"Yes,  we  may  all  congratulate  ourselves  that  this 
cruel  war  is  nearing  its  close.  It  has  cost  a  vast 
amount  of  treasure  and  blood.  The  best  blood  of  the 
tlower  of  American  youth  has  been  freely  offered  upon 
our  country's  altar  that  the  nation  might  live.  It  has 
been  indeed  a  trying  hour  for  the  republic;  but  I  see  in 
the  near  future  a  crisis  approaching  that  unnerves  me 
and  causes  me  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of  my  country. 

"As  a  result  of  the  war  corporations  have  been  en- 
throned, and  an  era  of  corruption  in  high  places  will 
follow,  and  the  money  power  of  the  country  will  en- 
deavor to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon  the  preju- 
dices of  the  people  until  all  wealth  is  aggregated  in  its 
hands,  and  the  republic  is  destroyed.  I  feel  at  this 
moment  more  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  my  country 


160  — 

ilia n  ever  before,  even  in  the  midst  of  war.  God 
grant  that  my  suspicions  may  prove  groundless." 

How  prophetic  those  words!  But  the  republic  will 
not  be  destroyed.  It  is  the  reign  of  the  money  power 
which  must  cease.  And  the  telegraph  monopoly  which 
can  make  the  press  dispatches  deny  the  existence 
of  an  overwhelming  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  government 
telegraph  and  other  collective  conveniences,  is  the  first 
of  the  corporations  that  have  been  enthroned  which 
must  be  deprived  of  its  power. 

What  disposition  will  eventually  be  made  of  the  sys- 
tem of  telegraph  we  have  acquired  in  Porto  Kico  can 
only  be  conjectured  at  the  present  time.  The  telegraph 
lobby  will  of  course  urge  that  the  government  dispose  of 
it  to  the  highest  bidder  at  public  sale.  This  would  mean 
its  acquisition  by  the  telegraph  monopoly. 

"We  cannot  consistently  begin  to  carry  out  our 
avowed  purpose  of  bringing  a  betterment  of  social  con- 
ditions to  the  people  of  Porto  Rico  by  disrupting  a 
government  institution  in  which  they  take  a  natural 
pride  and  turning  it  over  to  a  private  monopoly. 

And  the  same  holds  true  as  regards  the  government 
telegraph  and  railways  of  Cuba. 

The  administration  has  made  a  good  beginning  by 
giving  the  country  a  system  of  postal  savings  banks  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  money  power. 

It  should  continue  on  by  retaining  and  gradually  ex- 
tending the  collective  institutions  we  find  already  estab- 
lished in  our  newly  acquired  possessions. 


SOCIETY.— XXIX. 
PROBABILITIES  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

The  wheels  of  progress  seem,  just  at  this  particular 
time,  to  be  accelerating  in  the  speed  of  their  revolu- 
tions. During  the  progress  of  the  Santiago  campaign, 
we  were  informed  of  the  intention  of  the  government 
to  construct  a  military  telegraph  along  the  eastern  coast 
of  Cuba. 

Since  then,  various  points  of  more  or  less  impor- 
tance have  been  connected  by  wire.  A  dispatch  sent 
out  from  Washington  under  date  of  October  12,  1898, 
informs  us  that  the  secretary  of  war  will  recommend  to 
congress  that  the  existing  railway  system^  in  Cuba  be 
extended  so  as  to  form  a  line  running  directly  from 
Cape  Maysi,  at  the  east  end  of  the  island,  to  Cape  An- 
tonio, on  the  western  extremity.  The  dispatch  fur- 
ther states  that  he  will  recommend  that  this  work  bo 
undertaken  by  the  United  States  government,  and 
that  congress  appropriate  the  necessary  funds. 

The  dispatch  continues:  "The  road  is  a  military 
necessity,  and  moreover  its  construction  will  give  work 
to  many  of  the  unemplo3<ed  native  laborers.  As  the 
road  progresses,  sections  of  the  country  will  be  opened 
up  that  are  now  inaccessible  to  trade." 

Government  ownership  is  coming.       A  government 

stretch  of  railway  must  of  course  be  operated  by  a 

161 


—  162  - 

government  telegraph.  And  so  the  powers  of  gov- 
ernment, in  accordance  with  the  natural  drift,  will  be 
continually  extended. 

'Benjamin  Franklin  said  (hat  "the  wisest  measures 
are  seldom  adopted  through  previous  wisdom  hut  are 
forced  by  the  occasion. "' 

Tin-  railways  and  telegraph  of  most  European 
countries  were  acquired  as  a  military  necessity,  and  it 
seems  that  the  start  of  government  railway  and  tele- 
graph construction,  to  extend  the  systems  we  have  al- 
ready acquired  in  our  tropical  possessions  will  be  made 
on  a  similar  claim. 

Judging  from  the  tenor  of  the  dispatch  quoted,  the 
railway  and  telegraph  systems  we  have  acquired  will  be 
retained,  and,  perhaps  before  these  lines  are  scanned 
by  the  eye  of  the  reader,  conductors  in  government 
uniform  will  be  collecting  fares  on  a  railway  owned  by 
the  American  people,  Cuban,  Porto  Kican,  Hawaiian 
and  Filippino  Americans  being  included. 

Such  a  railway  in  Cuba,  may,  shortly  after  its 
transfer  to  our  government,  be  operated  by  United 
States  railway  train  crews,  and  the  men  in  the  machine 
and  repair  shops,  the  section  men,  train  dispatchers, 
the  men  who  handle  freight  and  baggage  and  necessary 
clerks,  accountants  and  officials  be  in  society  employ. 

Once  advanced  to  this  stage,  would  we  let  contracts 
for  the  construction  of  locomotives  and  cars  to  private 
manufacturing  concerns?  We  might  for  awhile,  but  we 
may  rest  assured  that  we  would  not  do  so  much  longer 
than  it  would  take  for  government  plants  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  rolling  stock  to  be  established.  And 


—  163  — 

plants  for  the  manufacture  of  rails  and  telegraph  wire 
would  soon  follow. 

Of  course  it  is  desirable  that  the  English  tongue 
shall  become  the  predominating  language  in  Cuba,  as 
well  as  in  our  other  colonial  possessions.  Public  schools 
and  colleges  will  therefore,  in  all  probability,  be  estab- 
lished immediately  under  government  auspices. 

There  is  an  element  of  the  population,  in  Cuba  par- 
ticularly, which  011  account  of  lack  of  opportunity  to 
gain  a  livelihood  under  Spanish  rule,  has  become 
completely  demoralized  and  irredeemably  addicted  to 
the  drink  habit. 

As  a  police  regulation,  government  will  therefore 
no  doubt  place  the  traffic  in  intoxicants  under  national 
control. 

Government  has  appointed  civic  officials,  magis- 
trates and  judges,  both  Spanish  and  American, 
throughout  Cuba  and  her  sister  colonies.  They 
should  be  succeeded  by  government  civic  officials,  mag- 
istrates and  judges  elected  by  the  people. 

In  the  cities  and  at  stations  along  its  railway  lines 
government  would,  of  course,  establish  eating  houses 
to  accommodate  the  traveling  public.  These  should 
be  on  a  scale  extensive  enough  to  accommodate 
the  resident  public,  a  not  inconsiderable  percentage  of 
whom  would  be  in  government  employ,  as  well.  Con- 
nected with  these  public  restaurants  might  be  hotel 
rooms  like  those  in  depot  hotels  at  the  present  time. 

To  keep  its  engines  supplied  with  good  fuel,  gov- 
ernment would  open  up  coal  deposits  along  the  exten- 
sions of  its  railway  system,  and  it  is  reasonably  certain 
that  it  would  before  long  open  up  iron  deposits  to  sup- 


—  164  — 

ply  its  blast  furnaces,  and  stone  quarries  to  supply  ma- 
terial for  its  public  buildings.  One  or  more  bridge  build- 
ing plants,  glass  factories,  wood  working  plants  beside 
other  constructive  departments  would  soon  become  a 
necessity  in  connection  with  government  production  of 
railway  equipment,  and  in  this  way  collective  pro- 
duction will  be  locally  extended  as  rapidly  a>  warranted 
l-y  prevailing  conditions  and  circumstances.  Of  course 
we  will  introduce  our  government  savings  bank  system 
into  Cuba,  as  well  as  our  other  colonies  and  money-order 
departments  of  the  postal  service,  will  receive  on  deposit 
any  form  of  currency  our  government  may  deem  fitting 
and  proper  to  adopt. 

And  some  day  we  may  put  into  circulation  a  lim- 
ited volume  of  government  currency  redeemable  in  the 
service  of  this  Cuban  American  railway  and  telegraph 
or  other  resources  of  the  nation  at  the  pleasure  of  gov- 
ernment. And  when  we  ascertain  by  experience  that 
such  money  is  a  good  thing;  that  it  will  carry  on  pub- 
lic work  in  Cuba  as  well  as  gold,  we  will  have  taken  a 
step  that,  followed  up,  will  not  alone  bring  prosperity 
to  our  people  but  to  mankind  the  world  over  as  well. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

"The  grandeur  of  this  civilization  has  won  my  ad- 
miration from  the  beginning,"  said  Rodney  Holeomb  at 
a  home  gathering  in  the  drawing  room  of  the  Burtons 
a  few  clays  after  the  arrival  of  Arthur  and  the  immc- 
.diate  members  of  his  household,  "and  had  I  not  read 
your  treatise  on  ' Society'  I  could  never  have  conjec- 
tured how  it  was  ever  approached/' 

"Bnt  you  readily  perceive  how  it  was  possible  to 
bring  these  changes  about  through  the  use  of  govern- 
ment currency/'  remarked  his  son,  a  tall,  dark-haired, 
well-built  personage  in  the  very  prime  of  life,  a  smile 
meanwhile  playing  upon  his  open,  straightforward 
countenance;  "with  gold  as  the  money  of  the  world 
they  could  never  have  been  accomplished." 

Just  before  the  conversation  had  taken  tins  turn, 
the  wives  of  'Silas  Burton  and  Arthur  Holeomb  had 
been  discussing  the  woman  phase  of  the  old  social  or- 
der, and  had  agreed  that  the  raising  of  charity  funds 
was  the  main  public  work  allotted  to  the  women  of 
that  day. 

From  her  youthful  appearance,  one  would  not  have 
taken  Gertrude  Holeomb  to  be  the  mother  of  four 
thriving  children  of  whom  Clarence,  a  fine  strapping 
young  fellow  of  nineteen  years  was  the  firstborn. 

At  the  moment  he  found  congenial  companion- 
ship in  Edna  Burton,  with  whom,  in  a  spacious  al- 

165 


-  166  — 

cove,  containing  cabinets  of  the  coins  of  the  competi- 
tive era  and  other  curios  Tecessed  between  wide  spread- 
ing plants  of  native  growth,  he  was  discussing  the  flora 
and  fauna  of  the  country. 

The  younger  offshoots  of  both  families  were  rolling 
hoops  and  spinning  tops  in  the  open. 

"It  seemed  as  if  the  new  order  was  a  spontaneous 
development  in  several  countries,''  remarked  Silas 
Burton,  who  had  made  a  close  study  of  the  chancres 
which  time  had  wrought,  "but  I  think  that  after  all, 
the  American  people  are  entitled  to  as  much  credit  as 
those  of  any  other  country  for  speeding  along  the 
movement  for  collective  control  of  industry." 

"I  presume  our  people  acted  on  your  suggestions 
Arthur,"  remarked  the  elder  Holcomb,  proudly. 

"No,  not  mine,"  replied  the  son.  The  greater 
part  of  what  I  wrote  was  well  known  to  thousands,  if 
not  millions." 

"Xevertheless,"  remarked  Mrs.  Burton,  "you  point- 
ed out  the  only  way  to  nationalize  industry  through  the 
use  of  government  currency." 

Arthur  smiled.  "I  remember  a  quotation  from 
Heine,"  he  remarked,  "in  which  he  says  that  'We  do 
not  take  possession  of  our  ideas  but  are  possessed  by 
them.  The}'  master  us  and  force  us  into  the  arena, 
where  like  gladiators  we  must  fight  for  them.'  But 
after  all,"  he  continued,  "progressive  ideas  in  mechan- 
ics, invention,  or  the  science  of  government  are  merely 
material  plucked  from  the  common  store  of  accumu- 
lated knowledge.  They  are  all  based  upon  something 
which  already  has  an  existence. 

"Very  true,"  remarked  the  elder  Holcomb,  "but 


—  167  — 

how  did  you  educate  the  people  up  to  the  new  ideas? 
A  great  percentage  of  them  were  always  densely  ignor- 
ant  and  difficult  to  reach  through  pamphlets,  maga- 
zines, newspapers  and  the  like." 

''We  voted  the  people,"  Arthur  replied,  "nor  did  we 
wait  for  election  day  to  roll  around  in  order  to  do  so. 
At  great  picnics  gotten  up  for  the  occasion;  at  tin- 
meeting  place  of  every  trade  or  labor  union  in  the  land, 
and  at  centrally  located  polling  places  in  every  city, 
town,  and  village  we  had  ballots  taken  on  such  ques- 
tions as  "Shall  we  construct  a  government  system  of 
telegraph  to  be  paid  for  in  currency  redeemable  in  tel- 
egraph tolls  or  other  available  resource  of  the  nation, 
at  the  pleasure  of  government?'  'Shall  money  be  is- 
sued exclusively  by  the  nation?'  i Shall  we,  construct 
three  hundred  or  more  public  buildings  with  govern- 
ment currency  or  with  postal  savings  funds  as  they  be- 
come available?7  We  advertised  the  particular  ques- 
tion to  be  voted  upon  and  the  location  of  the  polling 
place,  and  to  avoid  any  misunderstanding  in  regard  to 
the  result  of  the  vote,  we  arranged  to  have  representa- 
tives of  different  political  parties  receive  and  count  the 
ballots.  We  announced  the  results  of  the  vote  in  the 
newspapers,  at  the  same  time  mentioning  when  the 
next  vote  would  be  taken,  the  question  to  be  voted  up- 
on and  the  location  of  the  polls.  In  the  states  where 
women  were  denied  an  equal  voice  with  men  in  public 
affairs  we  voted  the  feminine  element  of  the  population 
separately  on  the  questions  which  we  submitted.  Ar 
first  the  people  did  not  seem  to  take  much  interest  in 
the  balloting,  but  we  persisted  in  our  course,  submit- 
ting the  same  questions  again  and  again. 

"We  finally  succeeded  in  awakening  public  interest, 


—  168  — 

and  when  the  people  saw  that  the  vote.,  whether  great 
or  small,  was  overwhelmingly  in  the  affirmative — that 
the  majority  readily  saw  what  was  best  for  their  inter- 
est— a  genuine  voting  craze  developed  which  steadily 
augmented  with  a  force  as  irresistible  as  the  avalanche. 

"The  women  in  particular  were  quick  to  perceive 
that  the  proposed  measures  would  be  greatly  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  their  husbands,  fathers,  sons,  brothers  and 
themselves  as  well.  They  had  been  asking  one  an- 
other the  question,  If  millions  of  men  anxious  to 
earn  an  honest  living  cannot  now  find  employment, 
what  are  all  these  boys  going  to  do  when  they  grow 
up?  And  not  until  the  plan  of  collective  control  of 
industry  under  which  every  willing  hand  would  find 
employment  was  submitted  to  them,  could  the  question 
be  satisfactorily  answered.  In  accordance  with  their 
convictions  as  to  what  was  for  the  best  they  did  all  in 
their  power  to  influence  public  sentiment  in  favor  of 
the  proposed  measures,  and  incidentally,  through  the 
eager  desire  of  the  women  to  have  their  views  upon  the 
questions  in  which  they  were  so  vitally  interested  re- 
ceive recognition,  the  movement  for  woman  suffrage 
was  given  a  wonderful  impetus." 

"You  remember,  grandpa,"  Gertrude  Holcomb  here 
interposed,  "in  your  time  women  could  vote  at  general 
elections  in  only  four  states,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Utah 
and  Idaho.  They  are  now  permitted  to  voice  their  opin- 
ions on  public  affairs  everywhere,  and  the  world  is  the 
better  for  it." 

"It  must  be!"  exclaimed  the  elder  Holcomb  en- 
thusiastically. "But  go  on,  Arthur,  go  on.  This  is 
all  very  interesting." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"The  next  national  convention  of  the  Democratic 
party,"  continued  the  author-statesman,  "adopted  a 
platform  tending  strongly  in  the  direction  of  collec- 
tive control  of  industry.  But  the  sentiment  of  the 
country  favoring  such  a  policy  was  by  that  time  well 
known,  and  that  the  measures  proposed  would  carry 
the  country  seemed  a  certainty.  One  of  these  measures 
was  a  demand  for  the  demonetization  of  gold.  The 
Republican  party  admitted  in  turn  that  go-Id  mono- 
iiR'tallism  was  an  evil  thing  for  the  country,  but  it  took 
the  position  that  we  could  not  successfully  demonetize 
ii'old  alone,  and  that  this  could  only  be  brought  about 
through  an  international  agreement.  Prominent  news- 
papers of  the  land  denounced  in  unstinted  terms  what 
they  designated  as  the  socialistic  platform  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  but  they  produced  no  argument  tending 
to  prove  that  the  proposed  measures  were  not  a  good 
thing  for  the  country. 

"The  money  power  rested  upon  the  hope  that  the 
people  might  be  deluded  into  retaining  gold  as  money 
until  dispensed  with  by  international  agreement,  while 
the-  corporations  of  the  country  made  a  desperate  en- 
deavor to  retain  control  of  industry.  An  enormous 
campaign  fund  was  raised  by  the  interests  opposed  to 
the  people,  and  every  preparation  made  to  throttle  dem- 
ocracy and  perpetuate  the  roign  of  plutocracy  on  Am 

169 


—  170  — 

erican  soil.  But  before  election  day  rolled  around 
something  entirely  unexpected  happened.  Of  a  sudden 
the  czar  of  Russia  determined  upon  demonetizing  gold 
without  the  consent  or  interference  of  any  nation  on 
earth,  and  issued  a  roval  ukase  or  decree  to  that  effect. 
This  put  a  different  aspect  upon  affairs.  The  fact  that 
Russia  had  demonetized  gold  single  handed  demon- 
strated that  gold  could  just  as  easily  be  demonetized  by 
so  powerful  a  nation  as  our  own,  and  as  a  result  of  tho 
election  the  Democratic  party  went  into  power  with  full 
control  of  the  house  and  senate.  Gold  was  demonetized, 
the  national  banking  act  repealed,  the  construction  of 
a  government  telegraph  begun,  and  elaborate  public 
work  started  in  a  number  of  localities.  Included  in  this 
iwere  national  factories,  foundries  and  workshops,  and  a 
great  irrigating  canal  to  bring  water  upon  a  consider- 
able tract  of  public  land  which  was  then  brought  under 
(collective  cultivation.  Through  the  use  of  government 
money  what  were  once  arid  desert  lands  became  trans- 
formed into  garden  spots  and  fertile  fields.  The  en- 
tire country  is  now  operated  as  one  great  national  farm, 
and  the  world  over,  beside  carrying  on  an  orderly 
system  of  production  and  distribution,  men  are  engaged 
in  the  upbuilding  of  splendid  cities  thus  creating  about 
themselves  a  beautiful  environment." 

"But  how  did  the  demonetization  of  gold  by  Russia 
and  the  United  States  affect  other  countries?"  asked 
the  elder  Holcomb. 

"It  created  consternation  in  financial  circles/''  the 
son  replied,  "but  nevertheless  the  price  of  gold  did  not 
immediately  fall.  The  people  of  the  two  countries 
which  had  adopted  government  currency  were  at  a 
decided  advantage  over  those  which  operated  under  a 


—  171  — 

iinetallic-based  monetary  system.  Each  of  these  two 
nations  immediately  started  upon  the  construction  of 
an  armor-clad  fleet,  ostensibly  for  purposes  of  a  mer- 
chant marine,  k/t  which  could  be  readily  converted 
'into  a  fleet  of  warships  in  an  emergency.  This  could 
not  be  done  by  nations  which  still  retained  a  gold  cur- 
rency. These  saw  no  way  of  liquidating  the  principal 
and  interest  of  their  gol^.  indebtedness,  while  the  prob- 
lem was  effectually  solv  »d  by  the  two  nations  which  had 
adopted  a  paper  government  currency.  They  exchanged 
legal  tender  currency  at  a  parity  for  non-legal  tender 
gold  coin,  SBC!  government  currency  purchased  such 
[additional  quantities  of  the  gold  commodity  as  could 
be  obtained.  Thru  again,  as  wealth  accumulated  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  in  a  conservative  nation  it  sapped  its 
vitality,  and  the  nation  grew  weaker,  while  under  gov- 
ernments where  every  citizen  became  interested  in  the 
institutions  which  yielded  him  a  livelihood,  and  the 
margin  or  profit  on  the  nee  ^ssaries  of  life  became  social 
capital,  the  nation  invariably  grew  in  wealth  and 
strength  and  power. 

"Within  a  year  after  Russia  had  taken  the  initiative 
in  currency  reform  the  Emperor  of  Germany  was  de- 
posed, and  the  social  democracy  which  before  the  close 
of  the  last  century  had  won  over  to  its  cause  more  than 
a  third  of  the  population  of  that  country  acceded  to 
power. 

"Re volution- followed  revolution  throughout  Europe, 
and  in  every  instance  the  monarchy  was  transformed 
into  an  industrial  republic.  Singularly  enough  the 
czar  refused  his  aid  to  suppress  the  social  revolt  in 
other  countries.  He  frankly  acknowledged  that  govern- 
ment by  the  people  was  the  only  true  theory  of  govern- 


—  172  — 

ment,  and  announced  that  while  he  survived  he  would 
use  his  power  for  the  best  interest  of  his  people  without 
regard  to  the  succession.  And  to-day,  the  last  of  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  to  remain  in  power,  he  is  carrying 
out  the  policy  which  he  outlined  for  himself  at  the 
beginning.  He  has  founded  great  cities  through  the 
use  of  government  currency,  has  given  his  people  remu- 
nerative employment,  and  has  proven  himself  in  every 
way  a  wise  and  noble  ruler.  Many  years  ago  the  nihilist 
organizations  of  his  country  publicly  disbanded,  and 
though  still  living,  a  statue  of  him  occupies  a  con- 
spicuous position  in  every  European  capital.  Every  in- 
dustrial democracy  proved  a  success  from  the  beginning, 
and  government  currency  proved  itself  the  magic  wand 
which  dispelled  the  world-wide  misery  of  the  proletariat 
and  brought  happiness  and  contentment  in  its  stead. 
Conservative  England  was  the  last  of  modern  govern- 
ments to  succumb  to  the  inevitable  trend  of  evolution. 

"As  nation  after  nation  demonetized  gold  and 
adopted  government  currency  liquidation  of  the  world's 
indebtedness  began.  A  veritable  stream  of  gold  poured 
into  the  strong  boxes  and  money  vaults  of  London.  It 
came  in  the  minted  coin  of  every  nation  of  earth,  and 
in  the  form  of  bars  and  bricks  and  ingots  of  gold  with 
their  weight  and  fineness  stamped  upon  them  by  the 
various  governments.  The  financial  center  of  the  world 
was  fairly  deluged  with  the  yellow  metal.  As  fast  a.s 
received  it  had  been  credited  up  at  its  old  time  mint 
valuation.  But  it  could  neither  be  invested  nor  loaned 
out  at  interest  in  amy  foreign  country.  What  to  do 
with  it  became  the  great  problem.  The  home  market 
for  money  was  broken  down.  Individuals  of  means  did 
not  want  to  borrow,  and  those  who  would  have  borrowed 


—  173  — 

could  give  no  security.  Wliile  every  other  nation  was 
prosperous  the  general  depression  and  industrial  stag- 
nation throughout  Great  Britain  was  rapidly  becoming 
unbearable.  Had  the  nations  liquidated  their  indebted- 
ness in  food  products  the  hungry  populace  might  have 
seized  upon  these  and  prevented  the  starvation  of  thou- 
sands. But  the  liquidating  nations  insisted  upon  carry- 
ing out  the  letter  of  their  contracts,  and  the  people 
could  not  eat  gold.  And  all  of  the  golden  stream  which 
still  kept  pouring  in  belonged  to  individuals,  not  to 
government.  The  people  at  great  mass  meetings  finally 
demanded  the  demonetizaton  of  gold.  No  alternative 
was  left  government  but  to  comply,  and  the  starting  up 
of  a  number  of  collective  enterprises  brought  relief  to 
the  masses.  As  a  result  of  its  complete  demonetization 
the  artificial  value  of  gold  rapidly  declined,  so  that  be- 
fore long  it  was  offered  at  a  third  of  its  former  monetary 
valuation. 

"When,  the  indebtedness  of  the  nations  had  been 
paid  off,  an  international  conference  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  various  governments  fixed  the  valuation 
at  which  gold  of  standard  fineness  might  be  exchanged 
the  world  over,  at  ten  dollars  per  ounce  troy;  of  silver 
one  dollar  per  ounce  troy;  of  wheat  of  standard  grade, 
two  dollars  per  hundred  pounds;  of  number  one  corn, 
one  dollar  per  hundred  pounds,  and  of  standard  cotton, 
ten  cents  a  pound.  It  wa.s  further  understood  that  the 
selling  price  of  other  commodities  would  be  fixed  by  the 
respective  governments,  and  that  the  compensation  of 
all  employes  in  public  service  should  be  fixed  at  three 
dollars  for  a  day's  work  not  exceeding  eight  hours. 

Since  that  conference  others  have  been  held,  with 
the  result  that  the  wage  compensation  in  every  depart- 


—  174  — 


ment  of  the  public  service  has  been  fixed  at  five  dollars 
per  day,  and  the  exchange  value  of  commodities  in  gen- 
eral has  been  fully  established." 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

In  an  adjoining  apartment  clustered  about  the  sit- 
ting room  table  were  gathered  the  youngsters  of  the 
lloleomb  and  Burton  families. 

Since  an  hour  or  more  they  had  tired  of  out-door 
play,  and  Eddie  Holeomb  a  bright  lad  of  fourteen  had 
just  concluded  reading  to  his  attentive  juvenile  audi- 
ence an  account  of  the  independence  day  parade  in  Des 
M nines,  Iowa,  the  home  of  the  Ilolcombs,  as  given  in  a 
newspaper  received  from  there  in  that  day's  mail. 

"Was'nt  it.  lovely!"  exclaimed  little  Elsie  Burton 
when  Eddie,  having  finished  reading  detailed  descrip- 
tions of  Hie  many  tableaux  which  appeared  in  the  turn- 
out, laid  the  paper  aside. 

"What  was  so  lovely?''  asked  tbe  elder  Holeomb 
smiling,  thinking  to  have  a  time  with  the  children. 

The  chat  in  the  drawing  room  had  broken  up,  and 
lie  had  entered  the  sitting  room  in  time  to  hear  Elsie's 
remark.  In  a  moment  Arthur,  Mr.  Burton,  and  the 
ladies  also  put  in.  an  appearance. 

"I  have  just  Ix'en  reading  the  account  oi;  the  fourth 
of  July  parade  in  our  home  town,  grandpa,"  spo.kc  up 
Eddie  Holcomb. 

"And  it  had  be-autiful  floats  and  ev-erything  in  it/' 
added  Elsie  with  a  childish  drawl. 

"The  children  seem  to  have  been  interested  in  the 
pageant/'  remarked  Arthur  Holcomb  picking  up  the 

175 


—  176  — 

,  "but  let  me  read  you  an  extract  J'roiu  the  editorial 
comment  upon  it,"  and  when  the  grown  people  had 
seated  themselves  in  the  chairs  the  children  had  vacated 
to  gather  about  a  structure  of  blocks  one  youngster  pos- 
sessed of  more  than  ordinary  architectural  genius  was 
erecting  upon  the  floor,  he  began: 

"What  changes  in  social  conditions  that  have  oc- 
curred in  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  are  suggested 
by  that  turn-out,  composed  in  greater  part  of  labor 
organizations  every  member  of  which  is  an  employee 
of  government  1  \Vhen  we  reflect  upon  how  orderly 
every  department  of  industry  is  now  carried  on;  how 
little  of  friction  occurs,  and  how  much  of  good  feeling 
on  the  whole  prevails,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  it  ever 
was  otherwise.  Yet  the  files  of  the  press  of  those  days 
reveal  an  industrial  status  that  to  us  seems  positively 
apalling.  Glancing  through  these  files  we  ran  across 
an  account  of  a.  strike  of  the  building  trades  at  St. 
Louis,  of  the  stereotypers  in  Chicago,  of  the  packing 
house  employees  at  Omaha,  of  the  street  car  men  in  Mil- 
waukee, of  the  wire  makers  at  Cleveland,  of  the  garment 
workers  in  Xew  York,  and  of  the  coal  miners  in  Ohio 
and  Illinois  all  within  a  comparatively  short  period  of 
time. 

"So  it  went  on  continually,  now  a  lock-out  here 
and  a  walk-out  there,  and  from  all  the  evidence  at  hand, 
we  glean  that  throughout  the  duration  of  these  labor 
disturbances  the  capitalists  never  missed  a  meal,  while 
the  men  who  went  out  starved. 

"Looking  backward  we  find  that  the  moneyed  class 
strenuously  opposed  the  introduction  of  the  prevailing 
industrial  system.  Xor  did  they  present  any  solution 
of  the  capital  and  labor  problem  for  the  good  reason 


—  177  — 

ihat,  being  possessed  of  the  capital,  the  conditions  :v< 
they  then,  existed  were  largely  in  their  favor. 

"But  in  this  statement  we  are  not  entirely  correct. 
There  is  in  existence  indubitable  evidence  that  they  did 
offer  a  solution  of  the  industrial  problem. 

"Through  the  prominent  newspapers  of  that  time 
they  intimated  that  the  way  for  the  working  people  to 
better  their  condition  was  to  turn  the  issue  of  the 
currency  over  to  the  capitalists  of  the  country!  It  was 
well  for  the  masses  that  they  did  not  remain  blinded 
to  the  importance  of  an  exclusive  government  currency, 
else  the  bread  and  butter  problem  would  for  them  have 
still  remained  unsolved." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

After  a  month's  sojourn  in  the  tropics,  Arthur  Hol- 
comb and  his  family  accompanied  by  grandpa  Holcomb, 
embarked  on  the  palatial  ocean  liner  "Columbia'''  of  the 
American  maritime  service,  for  their  native  land. 

From  the  deck  of  the  splendid  armorclad  vessel, 
with  the  stars  and  stripes  floating  proudly  from  the 
mast-head  above  them,  the  Holcombs  waved  their  last 
adieus  to  the  little  group  upon  the  pier  who  stood  wav- 
ing handkerchiefs  in  return  until  the  hull  of  the 
great  steamer  stood  well  out  upon  the  horizon,  and  no 
object  on  board  except  two  black  funnels  belching  forth 
smoke  could  be  distinguished. 

But  not  all  of  the  Holcomb  family  had  embarked 
for  their  native  heath. 

Among  the  little  group  upon  the  pier  stood  Clarence 
who  at  his  own  request  had  been  left  behind,  and  who 
nowr  accompanied  the  Burtons  as  they  wended  their  way 
homeward. 

For  him  the  skies  of  the  tropics  seemed  sunnier,  the 
flowers  brighter  lined,  and  the  earth  in  general  more 
fair  than  in  his  native  land;  but  then,  there  was  Edna. 

He  entered  the  public  service  in  the  department  of 
journalism  where  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  later 
successes  as  a  writer  upon  questions  that  still  remained 
to  be  solved.  But  many  a  time,  during  his  earlier  news- 
paper work,  did  pleasing  memories  of  recent  strolls  with 

178 


—  179  — 

Edna  along  shaded  lanes,  and  country  outings  of  young 
people  in  which  she  was  the  central  figure,  come  be- 
tween him  and  his  manuscript.  On  such  occasions  his 
immediate  work  would  be  deferred  for  a  short  pleasur- 
able meditation,  which  not  infrequently  terminated  in 
a  long  drawn  fairly  audible  sigh. 

And  as  for  Edna,  how  blissful  were  the  speeding 
days  of  love's  young  unclouded  dream! 

But  his  attentions  to  Edna  did  not  prevent  Clarence 
from  steadily  perfecting  himself  in  newspaper  work,  in 
wrhich  he  had  determined  from  the  start  to  become  pro- 
ficient. 

However,  time  passed  on,  and  one  fine  day  about  two 
years  after  his  arrival  upon  the  coast,  there  was  a  quiet 
but  ever  so  happy  wedding  in  the  Burton  home. 

Clarence  and  Edna  had  started  upon  the  voyage  of 
life  together. 


ADDENDA, 

Were  free  coinage  of  silver  resumed  in  the  United 
States  at  once,  government  would  not  own  the  money 
coined,  nor  could  an  additional  dollar's  worth  of  public 
work  be  undertaken  on  its  account. 

And  even  were  an  international  agreement  for  the 
general  remonetization  of  silver  brought  about,  these 
relations  of  silver  to  government,  like  that  of  gold 

which  bears  a  similar  relation,  would  not  be  changed. 
*     *     * 

Had  some  of  our  modern  politicians  lived  in  the  par- 
ish of  St.  Peter  at  the  time  the  Guernsey  market  house 
was  built  they  would  have  undoubtedly  opposed  its  con- 
struction in  some  such  resolution  as  this:  We  have  no 
sympathy  with  the  party  which  Governor  De  L'  Isle 
Brock  represents  in  its  attempts  at  paper  inflation  and  we 
predict  that  its  declared  intention  to  put  its  theories  of 
fiatism  and  greenbackism  into  practice  will  prove  disas- 
trous to  our  people. — Governor  De  L'  Isle  Brock's  cur- 
rency proved  a  success.  Government  currency  would 
carry  on  public  work  even  more  satisfactorily. 

:;:          :]!          * 

Were  government  to  erect  homes  for  the  people  it 
would  not  be  the  first  to  enter  upon  such  an  innovation. 
The  municipal  government  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  has 
erected  a  number  of  dwellings  which  a  portion  of  the 
population  occupy  at  a  rental  charge.  Besides  being  a 
landlord  on  a,  large  scale  the  city  owns  and  operates  its 
tramway  or  street  car  system  and  other  utilities  of  a 
public  character. 

180 


How  much  does  it  take  for  an  average  i'amily  to  live 
in  comparative  comfort? 

Let  us  make  an  estimate  of  their  main  items  of  ex- 
penditure for  a  year. 

House  rent $120.00 

Food  for  man 120.00 

Food  for  wife > 120.00 

Food  for  two  children 120.00 

.Raiment  for  man  ' 120.00 

Raiment  for  wife 120.00 

Raiment  for  two  children , 120.00 

Very  scant  incidentals 60.00 

Total $900.00 

Let  the  excesses  if  any  of  the  items  of  raiment  go 
to  replace  worn  out  furniture. 

To  meet  these  expenditures  would  require  a  wage  of 
three  dollars  a  day  for  three  hundred  working  days. 

The  census  of  1890  gives  the  average  wage  earned  in 
the  United  States  at  a  few  cents  over  one  dollar  a  day, 
and  it  follows  that  our  people  live  in  anything  but  ma- 
terial comfort.  Under  competitive  industry  men  al- 
ready wealthy  gather  in  the  comforts  of  the  masses. 
Under  collective  production  the  readjustment  of  wages 
would  enable  the  many  to  enjoy  the  bounties  of  nature. 
*  *  * 

We  owe  a  billion  dollars  in  interest  bearing  govern- 
ment indebtedness.  In  a  little  over  thirty-three  years 
at  three  per  cent  per  annum  we  would  pay  on  this  debt 
a  billion  dollars  in  interest  with  nothing  to  show  for  it. 
Why  not  adopt  perfected  government  currency  and  ex- 
pend that  billion  dollars  in  public  works? 


AN  OPEN  LETTER  TO  THE  PRESIDENT. 
Hon.  Win.  McKinley,  President  of  the  United  States: 

Respected  Sir — Believing  that  as  much  as  lies  in  your 
power  you  desire  to  advance  the  interests  and  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  American  people,  the  undersigned 
with  due  respect  for  yourself  and  the  high  office  to 
which  you  have  been  called,  addresses  to  you  these 
lines. 

All  good  citizens  realize  with  gratification  that  as 
Commander  in  Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  you  have 
creditably  discharged  the  duties  of  your  position 
throughout  the  war  with  Spain  just  brought  to  a  suc- 
cessful termination. 

And  that  you  have  otherwise  as  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  nation  served  society  to  the  best  of  your  ability  is 
evidenced  by  the  clean  untarnished  record  you  have 
made. 

Yet  a  builder  might  do  excellent  work  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  habitation  until  half-way  reared,  and 
then  by  indifferent  workmanship  mar  the  beauty  of  the 
whole. 

And  there  may  be  sins  of  omission  as  well  as  of  com- 
mission. 

From  your  expressions  in  regard  thereto  you  are  evi- 
dently aware  that  our  monetary  system  is  not  what  it 
should  be,  and,  as  do  our  people,  you  deplore  the  neces- 
sity of  the  issuance  of  interest  bearing  obligations  of 
the  nation  to  maintain  the  policies  of  government  both 
in  times  of  peace  and  war. 

182 


—   183  — 

The  manner  in  which  the  currency  may  be  improved 
and  bond  issues  avoided  in  the  future  has  been  sug- 
gested in  the  essays  which  precede  this  letter  and  they 
are  respectfully  submitted  for  your  earnest  and  thought- 
ful consideration. 

That  the  remedial  measures  suggested  will  meet  the 
disfavor  of  banking  interests  is  granted.  But  do  the 
American  people  to-day  disapprove  or  applaud  the  ac- 
tion of  President  Jackson  in  defying  that  same  money 
power  which  ever  since  his  day  has  partially  succeeded 
in  circumventing  the  nation? 

With  the  object  in  view  of  relieving  government  of 
embarrassment  on  account  of  future  possible  raids  upon 
the  gold  reserve  you  have  recommended  that  treasury 
paper  once  redeemed  in  gold  be  not  re-issued  except  in 
exchange  for  gold. 

Such  a  regulation  would  unquestionably  result  in 
the  retirement  of  the  entire  volume  of  treasury  paper, 
and  a  well  grounded  fe'ar  exists  that  in  such  a  contin- 
gency associated  individuals  will,  under  the  national 
banking  act,  be  accorded  the  privilege  of  supplying 
the  shortage  of  money. 

We  may  tear  down  a  habitation  unfit  for  use,  but  we 
ought  to  know  in  advance  how  we  will  arrange  for 
another,  and  that  a  better,  to  take  its  place. 

You  are  aware  that  every  method  of  raising  rev- 
enue to  meet  expenditures  of  government  creates  a 
source  of  currency  redemption,  and  this  is  as  true  of  the 
existing  system  as  it  would  be  under  the  most  advance*! 
system  with  only  a  collective  paper  currency  in  cir- 
culation. 

There  have  been  no  raids  upon  the  gold  reserve  dur- 
ing your  administration,  consequently,  at  least  the 


—  184  — 

great  bulk  of  the  treasury  paper  in  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernment has  found  other  than  gold  redemption. 

Such  being  the  case,  the  currency  is  evidently  of  a 
serviceable  character,  and  ought  not  to  be  retired  until 
finally  superceded  by  a  currency  made  by  law  redeem- 
able, at  the  pleasure  of  the  government,  in  any  avail- 
able resource  of  the  nation. 

Improved  collective  currency  of  such  a  nature 
should  be  issued  to  meet  the  lawful  disbursements  of 
government,  included  in  which  would  be,  as  now,  the 
cost  of  all  public  work.  Were  such  currency  adopted 
it  would  circulate  side  by  side  with  treasury  paper  re- 
deemable in  gold  on  demand,  and  with  gold  coin  itself. 

No  embarrassment  of  the  treasury  could  ever  occur 
on  its  account,  and  the  chain  of  postal  savings  banks, 
which  you  sanctioned,  would  supply  ample  means  for 
the  protection  of  the  public  credit  so  put  into  circu- 
lation. 

As  it  found  its  way  into  the  treasury  it  would  find 
redemption  like  the  bulk  of  treasury  paper  now  finds 
redemption,  in  resources  other  than  gold,  but  as  long 
as  coined  gold  was  available  it  might,  under  the  policy 
which  government  would  in  all  probability  pursue,  find 
redemption  in  gold. 

There  ought  to  be  no  doubt  but  what  the  gradual 
introduction  of  such  currency  would  forever  obviate 
the  necessity  of  borrowing  gold,  either  at  home  or 
abroad,  at  an  interest  charge. 

The  matter  of  a  gold  reserve,  to  redeem  such  cur- 
rency as  would  be  presented  for  redemption  in  gold, 
and  the  providing  of  a  gold  supply  to  meet  the  inter- 
est upon  the  public  debt  as  it  matures,  are  propositions 


—  185  — 

presenting  no  difficulties  that  can  not  be  readily  over- 
come. 

Were  all  privately  owned  savings  institutions  abol- 
ished, as  they  should  be,  such  currency  as  would  be 
presented  would  be  redeemed  and  the  interest  upon  the 
public  debt  met  with  the  gold  deposited  by  the  people 
in  the  postal  savings  banks  of  the  country. 

Instead  of  a  hundred  million  gold  reserve  we  would 
practically  maintain  a  reserve  many  times  that'  in 
amount. 

Xor  would  there  be  need  to  interfere  with  the  mon- 
etary status  of  gold  for  the  time  being. 

It  would  even  be  an  advantage  to  continue  its  mon- 
etary use  as  long  as  it  remained  on  a  parity  with  our 
other  circulating  mediums;  but  gradually  displaced  by 
perfected  government  currency  the  time  would  come 
when  its  demonetization  would  no  more  disturb  our  in- 
dustrial relations  than  did  the  discontinuance  of  the 
free  coinage  of  silver.  The  introduction  of  perfected 
government  currency  would,  however,  of  itself  cause 
gold  manipulators  to  realize  that  if  we  could  demon- 
etize silver  because  of  its  plenteousness,  thereby  forcing 
its  commercial  value  down  below  the  monetary  value 
assigned  to  it,  we  may  equally  as  readily,  should  the 
occasion  present  itself,  demonetize  gold  because  of  its 
scarcity  and  because  of  the  fact  that  it  was  selling  as  a 
commodity  at  a  premium. 

Were  you  to  recommend  to  congress  the  erection 
of  a  number  of  public  buildings,  or  the  construction 
of  a  telegraph  system  for  the  country,  the  cost  of  such 
public  work  to  be  defrayed  with  a  currency  consisting 
of  the  national  credit,  would  not  your  action  be  en- 
thusiastically endorsed  by  the  entire  population? 


—  186  — 

The  amount  of  public  work  that  might  be  thus  un- 
dertaken would  be  limited  only  by  our  natural  and  ma- 
chanical  resources,  and  would  afford  a  legitimate  chan- 
nel through  which  the  currency  of  an  improved  mon- 
etary system,  to  succeed  the  crude  and  complicated 
financial  system  now  in  use,  might  be  put  into  circula- 
tion. 

Why  not  enter  upon  the  construction  of  an  elab- 
orate system  of  public  works  by  means  of  a  perfected 
government  currency  and  solve  both  the  financial  and 
industrial  problems  at  a  single  stroke? 

Under  competition,  commercial  banks  are  a  neces- 
sity, therefore  a  revision  of  the  national  banking  act 
to  correct  its  imperfections  becomes  a  proper  subject 
for  consideration  when  we  look  to  reform  of  the  cur- 
rency. 

No  right-minded  person  will  insist  that  we,  as  a 
nation,  ought  to  loran  bankers  the  capital  with  which 
they  engage  in  business. 

Xational  bank  currency,  notwithstanding  the  in- 
scriptions upon  it  and  the  signature  of  ban.k  officials,  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  in  effect  than  treasury  paper,  and 
legislation  should  provide  that  national  bank  currency, 
like  other  treasury  paper,  should  not  be  issued  to  bank- 
ers except  in  exchange  for  gold. 

And  why  should  not  commercial  bankers  be  com- 
pelled to  deposit  in  the  national  treasury  government 
bonds  to  cover  unsecured  deposits? 

Those  who  engage  in  banking  would  be  at  no  loss 
under  such  a  regulation,  as  they  would  continue  to 
draw  interest  upon  the  bonds  so  deposited. 

On  the  whole,  an  opportunity  to  do  vast  good,  such 
as  rarely  conies  into  the  life  of  any  man,  lies  before  you. 


-  187  - 

Your  recommendation  to  congress,  urging  the 
starting  up  of  public  work  by  means  of  government  cur- 
rency would  go  a  long  ways  toward  bringing  about  leg- 
islation which  would  bring  joy  and  gladness  into  the 
hearts  of  millions  who  now  despair. 

In  fact,  the  gradual  introduction  of  a  perfected 
government  currency  is  a  necessary  step  which  must 
be  taken  before,  through  the  co-operation  of  the  peo- 
ple, our  common  society  can  be  elevated  to  the  plane 
of  a  higher  civilization. 

I  most  respectfully  subscribe  myself, 
Sincerely  yours, 

Abraham  Benjamin  Franklin. 
*     *     * 

Competitive  industry  is  chaotic  in  its  nature.  It 
breeds  dishonesty,  hate,  tyranny,  oppression,  deception, 
fraud,  misrepresentation,  hypocrisy,  embezzlement,  rob- 
bery, murder,  arson,  greed,  avarice,  penuriousness,  filth, 
disease  and  moral  degradation. 

*  *     * 

When  society  controls  its  industrial  affairs  it  will 
stand  for  order,  system,  justice,  honesty,  equity,  truth- 
fulness, straightforwardness,  hope,  sympathy,  beauty, 
progress,  comfort,  leisure,  health,  and  nobility  of  .char- 
acter in  the  individual. 

#'        *         * 

There  should  be  only  one  kind  of  money,  one  code 
of  laws,  one  government,  and  one  common  soil  afford- 
ing an  existence  to  every  citizen  of  the  republic. 


LETTERS. 

The  letters  that  follow  are  imaginary.  Yet  they  are 
not  altogether  unreal  because  they  voice  sentiments  that 
actually  have  an  existence  in  the  minds  and  hearts  and 
souls  of  thousands  of  the  population. 

In  addition  to  these  expressions  favoring  a  better 
social  'order,  how  many  personal  appeals  from  those  who 
as  Hamlin  Garland  says,  "halt  weary  and  hungry  out- 
side lighted  windows  and  hear  laughter  and  song  with- 
in," might  be  imagined  as  being  made  by  the  disin- 
herited! 

FROM  AN  EMPLOYE  OF  THE  MAIL,  SERVICE. 

Employes  of  the  nation  participate  in  government 
•both  politically  and  industrially.  As  units  of  the  col- 
lectivity they  have  a  voice  in  determining  the  hours  of 
their  work  aird  the  compensation  they  shall  receive  for 
their  labor. 

Those  in  the  employ  of  individuals  and  corporations 
have  virtually  no  say  in  that  regard. 

We  are  the  advance  body  of  the  great  industrial 
arrfly  to  follow  as  soon  as  the  working  people  become 
sufficiently  enlightened  to  vote  themselves,,  through 
money  reform,  into  government  employ. 

FROM   A   LADY   SCHOOL  TEACHER. 

Being  engaged  in  a  pursuit  carried  on  by  the  people 
collectively  I  can  perceive  that  such  work  is  more  dig- 
nified than  at  least  the  greater  part  of  the  labor  per- 

188 


—  189  — 

formed  for  individuals  and  corporations  under  privaiv 
enterprise. 

Tin-  extension  of  collective  control  over  every  de- 
partment of  industry  would  effectually  solve  the  capital 
and  labor  problem  for  all  the  world. 

FROM  A  MERCHANT. 

To  succeed  under  competitive  business  methods 
means,  to  wreck  and"  ruin  the  lives  of  others,  and  the 
greater  the  success  the  more  individuals  have  been  sacri- 
ficed in  the  struggle  for  commercial  supremacy. 

Men  would  not  be  virtually  compelled  to  inflict  in- 
jury on  others  in  order  to  obtain  a  comfortable  exist- 
ence in  a  co-operative  commonwealth. 

FROM  A  LAWYER. 

To  lay  the  country  off  into  squares,  like  a  chec' 
board,  and  set  up  a  different  set  of  laws  for  each  squai 
is  a  social  arrangement  which  can  not  be  long  continu, 
by  an  enlightened  nation. 

We  so  provide  that  the  people  of  certain  sections  of 
country  bounded  by  imaginary  lines  frame  each  their 
own  code  of  laws  as  if  they  were  separate  nations,  and 
not  citizens  of  a  common  country. 

A  child,  aware  that  our  government  extends 
throughout  our  territory,  would  declare  without  hesi- 
tation that  laws  should  be  uniform  in  all  parts  of  the 
country. 

When  we  enact  social  regulations  for  all  the  people, 
we  shall  be  enabled  to  dispense  entirely  with  separate 
state  governments. 

FROM  A  PHYSICIAN. 

Medical  practitioners  know  that  a  large  percentage 
of  working  people  do  not  receive  a  wage  upon  which 


—  190  — 

they  can  subsist  in  any  degree  of  comfort,  and  few  can 
lay  by  anything  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  sickness  or 
accident.  To  live  at  all  they  are  virtually  compelled 
to  accept  any  work  offered  without  regard  to  compen- 
sation. And  this  is  what  those  who  produce  the  wealth 
of  the  world  have  come  to  under  competitive  methods 
of  carrying  on  industry!  As  sensible  beings  let  us  dis- 
card this  abominable  system  and  have  the  co-operative 
commonwealth  instead. 

An  improved  collective  paper  currency  will  bring  it. 
*     *     * 

In  view  of  the  existing  status  of  things  which  of  the 
various  political  organizations  ought  to  receive  the  sup- 
port of  well  meaning  public  spirited  citizens? 

From  events  that  have  already  transpired  there  re- 
mains no  doubt  but  that  the  machinery  of  the  Republi- 
can party  has  been  selected  for  the  promotion  of  the  in- 
terests of  capitalism. 

Within  its  organization  banking  interests,  railroad 
interests,  and  corporation  interests  in  general,  inimical 
to  the  welfare  of  society  as  a  whole,  have  found  lodg- 
ment; for  that  reason  it  should  be  shunned  by  every 
true  lover  of  his  country  who  favors  the  establishment 
of  progressive  institutions. 

The  Democratic  party  as  a  consequence  should  log- 
ically become  the  true  vehicle  of  reform  but  if  those  who 
control  its  destinies  should  persist  in  going  back  to  a 
period  ante-elating  the  printing  press  for  a  monetary 
system — to  the  barter  and  exchange  of  commodities 
even  though  they  be  stamped  as  money — it  can  ne\7er  ac- 
cede to  power. 

As  a  party  of  the  common  people  it  should  urge  the 
adoption  of  government  currency  and  specify  a  definite 


—  191  — 

amount  of  public  work  to  be  inaugurated  through  its 
use. 

With  such  a  platform,  omitting  all  other  issues,  the 
entire  population  would  flock  about  its  standard,  and 
it  would  unquestionably  carry  the  country. 

But  until  such  a  declaration  of  principle  has  been 
adopted  by  the  party  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson  it  should 
receive  no  support  from  citizens  who  favor  a  progressive 
policy. 

In  such  a  case  let  these  affiliate  with  the  newly  or- 
ganized Social  Democracy  which  advocates  collective 
control  of  industry. 

In  the  meantime  those  who  have  become  convinced 
of  the  direction  in  which  true  reform  lies  may  enter  the 
councils  of  the  old  party  of  Democracy  and  by  influenc- 
ing its  course  cause  it  to  stand  for  progress  and  human 
rights. 


A  call  is  hereby  made  for  a  succession  of  ballots  under 
the  auspices  of  the  labor  organizations  of  the  country 
upon  the  following  question:  Shall  the  government  enter 
upon  the  construction  of  a  telegraph  system  for  the 
country  and  erect  a  substantial,  commodious  postoffice 
building  in  every  city  and  town  where  no  such  publicly 
owned  building  now  exists,  the  cost  of  such  public  work 
to  be  defrayed  by  and  through  the  issue  of  government 
currency  specifically  appropriated,  such  currency  to  be 
made  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  government  in  any 
available  resource  of  the  nation? 

Ballots  shall  contain  the  words  "Yes"  and  "No"  in 
separate  lines  or  spaces  underneath  the  question  to  be 
voted  on  and  a  cross  mark  in  a  square  opposite  one  of 
these  words  shall  indicate  the  judgment  of  the  voter 
upon  the  question  submitted. 


—  192  — 

Any  labor  organization  may  fix  the  time  and  place 
of  the  taking  of  a  ballot  which  shall  be  cast  at  its  ex- 
pense, and  such  balloting  may,  at  its  option,  be  confined 
to  its  own  membership  or  include  the  general  public. 

Other  propositions  may  be  similarly  submitted,  and 
it  is  recommended  that  wherever  practicable  women  be 
allowed  to  participate  in  the  balloting. 

The  following  days  of  each  year  are  hereby  desig- 
nated as  general  voting  days: 

The  third  Monday  in  March. 

The  first  Monday  in  .May. 

The  first  Monday  in  July. 

The  first  Monday  in  Sept  ember. 

The  third  Monday  in  October. 

In  case  no  labor  organization  shall  give  due  notice 
of  its  intention  to  poll  the  vote  of  a  given  locality  the 
balloting  as  suggested  may  be  initiated  by  individuals 
who  favor  advance  in  government. 

It  will  be  difficult  to  summarize  results  of  the  ballot- 
ing the  country  over  and  for  such  information  in  that 
regard  as  may  appear  it  will  be  necessary  to  consult  the 
columns  of  local  newspapers  and  particularly  the  many 
excellent  journals  of  the  reform  press  in  which  accounts 
of  the  progress  of  the  collectivist  movement  in  general 
may  be  found.  Prominent  among  the  latter  are  "The 
Coming  Nation,"  a  reform  journal  published  at  Euskin, 
Tennessee,  the  "Appeal  to  Reason/'  published  at  Girard, 
Kansas,  the  "Chicago  Express"  and  the  "Social  Demo- 
cratic Herald"  published  at  Belleville,  Illinois. 

For  suggestions  how  the  balloting  may  be  conducted, 
and  for  copies  of  this  work  that  can  not  be  otherwise 
readiy  secured,  address  the  author,  A.  B.  Franklin,  P.  0. 
Box  277,  Pueblo,  Colorado. 


Point  The  Way 


Any  of  these  books  will   be  •..- 

Pull  catalogue  free.'  ^v.. 


CHARLES  H.  KERR  &  COMPANY 

Publishers  of  Social  Reform  Literature, 
56  FIFTH  AVENUE,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


YC  0693& 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


